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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 



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UNITED STATES OF . ERICA. 



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V* 



MISSIONARY CONCERTS 



FOR THE 



Sunday-School : 



A COLLECTION OF 



DECLAMATIONS, SELECT READINGS, 
AND DIALOGUES. 



COMPILED BY 

/ 
REV. W. T. SMITH. 



UhU-, 



CINCINNATI: 

WALDEN AND STOW^. . 

N EW YORK: 

PHILLIPS AND HUNT. 

1881. 



/9?4 







$ 

\1.° 

y 



Copyright by 

WALDEN & STOWE 

1880. 



INTRODUCTORY. 



Several things have prompted me in the 
compilation of this little book: 

i. To supply a felt need. Many of the 
religious periodicals of the land urge the im- 
portance of a Monthly Missionary Sunday- 
school Concert. But no provision has been 
made for suitable material. 

2. The missionary work is now in the front 
rank of all Christian labor. It is high time 
the children should be imbued with this spirit. 
As they grow in years they ought to become 
perfectly familiar with the plans of the Church, 
and the purposes of our Lord in the salvation 
of the world. Pertinently does the Macedo- 
nian say: 

"By such missionary concerts in our Sunday- 
schools, our children and youth will become early in- 
structed and interested in the great cause of missions 
among heathen nations. Such a result is eminently 
desirable. It will, we believe, bring forth immediate 
fruit in the way of begetting and fostering missionary 
zeal and activity in early life, and that will bring forth 



4 INTRODUCTORY. 

a yet larger harvest in the days to come, when these 
children shall become the members of our Churches 
and the leaders in our Zion." 

3. The children will learn to give to this 
cause. Any ordinary school can raise five 
dollars at a concert. This will aggregate 
sixty dollars in a year — a sum much larger 
than many Churches now contribute. The 
Rev. W. F. Bainbridge, speaking of "the 
coming membership of our Churches," says: 

"The rising generation within the Church is sure 
to be immensely wealthy. It will be rich in intellectual 
power, rich in social influence, rich in financial re- 
sources. It is our duty to anticipate this enlargement 
of our responsibility. If those who are soon to take 
our places can be made more appreciative of God's 
blessings, more inspired with the spirit of worship in 
their givings, more acquainted with the ecstasy of 
self-sacrifice, than we have been, and if, with this 
double portion of our spirit, they can come to those 
enlarged responsibilities that seem awaiting them, we 
have surely a glorious future right upon us. And 
though it may not be our privilege to mingle in its 
inspiring activities and successes, ours is almost an 
equal honor to help in laying the foundations for that 
prosperity." 

4. The children will learn to pray, u Thy 
kingdom come" The deplorable condition of 
the heathen world will awaken their sympa- 
thy, and thus drive them to God. 



INTRODUCTORY. 5 

5 . // will awaken new interest in the Church. 
It will arouse slumbering convictions of duty, 
and put in active operation the latent energies 
of Christ's people. The shortest route to the 
center of a parent's heart is through a child. 
It would seem impossible to have a meeting 
of this kind once a month without quickening 
the zeal of the Church. 

It is intended to have a purely missionary 
concert. Every piece to be spoken or read 
is laden with missionary thought, calculated 
to call attention to the magnitude and im- 
portance of the work. May thousands of 
Sunday-schools be organized into Juvenile 
Missionary Societies ! May tens of thousands 
of young tongues be kept busy in talking 
about the conversion of the world! And 
may millions of prayers and dollars be poured 
into the treasury of the Lord, to hasten the 
universal triumph of our Savior and King! 

W. T. Smith. 



EXPLANATORY NOTE. 



I undertake to say that there is not a Sabbath- 
school in all the land but may have an interesting 
missionary concert. There have been several ob- 
stacles in the way in the past : 

i. The programmes for exercises have been too 
complicated, requiring much drill and other prep- 
aration. 

2. Frequently the whole school must take a 
part, and this takes too much time and labor on 
the part of the officers and teachers. 

3. In many of these exercises certain costumes 
have to be worn, and screens have to be used, 
making the entertainment objectionable in a 
church on Sabbath evening, even if not at other 

times. 

These obstacles are set aside in the design of 
this work. In the school in the Church of which 
I am pastor we have adopted this plan: The 
concerts are given on the first Sabbath evening 
of each month by classes. One class provides 
the entertainment for the evening. The teacher 
of the class is held responsible for the drilling of 



8 EXPLANATORY NOTE. 

the scholars. In an ordinary school of twelve 
classes each class would give one concert in 
twelve months. This divides the labor, so that it 
is easy to prepare for the concert. If there are 
more than twelve classes in the school two teach- 
ers might combine for a single concert. In these 
speeches and readings every thing is severely 
plain, so that the most delicate taste need not be 
offended. For example here is a programme : 

1. Singing by the School. 

2. Prayer. 

3. Reading of appropriate Scriptures. 

4. Singing by School, or Class. 

5. Opening Address, by . . . 

6. Christ's Universal Reign, by . . . 

7. Singing by Class. 

8. Children in Heathen Lands, by . . . 

9. " He Got Nothing from Me," Select Reading, by . . . 

10. Singing, Solo, by Miss . . . 

11. Let There be Light, by . . . 

12. Dialogue, Missionary Money . . . 

13. Singing by the School. 

14. Address by the Pastor, ten minutes. 

15. Singing . . . 

16. Valedictory, by . . . 

17. Collection. 

18. Singing by School. 

19. Benediction. 

Mr. Superintendent, put this plan on trial for 
three months. It is easy, simple, practical. I 



EXPLANATORY NOTE. 9 

will venture the prophecy that such a trial will 
produce three results : 

1. It will attract large audiences. 

2. It will create a new interest in your school. 

3. It will do great good. 

Your fellow-laborer, 

W. T. S. 



CONTENTS. 



Part I. Opening Addresses. 

PAGE. 

i. The Relation of Sunday-schools to the 

Missionary Cause, 17 

2. Our Orders, 19 

3. Sunday-schools and Missions, 20 

4. Missionary Meeting, 22 

5. The Great Commission, 23 

6. The Field is the World, . 23 

7. Our Work, 25 

8. An Opening Address, 26 



Part II. Select Readings. 

1. The Victory Sure, 28 

2. Result of Christianity, 30 

3. The Children's Pennies, 31 

4. Brotherhood, 32 

5. What the Gospel does for Men, 34 

6. Foreign Missions a Disinterested Benevo- 

lence, 37 

7. Modern Missions Beneficial, ^8 

8. Result in South Pacific Islands, 40 

9. Orphanage of the Heathen, 42 



1 2 CONTENTS. 

PAGE. 

10. Confucius, 44 

11. Excuses for withholding Money, 47 

12. COVETOUSNESS, 48 

13. The Religion of China, 50 

14. so much to do at home, 52 

15. Chinese Character, 56 

16. Caste of India, 59 

17. Children's Work in Missions, 61 

18. Missionary Potatoes,. 64 

19. Individual Responsibility, 66 

20. The True Test, 69 

21. The Temples of Japan, 72 

22. No Appeal for Foreign Missions, 76 

23. Chinise Contrasts, 79 

24. The Missionary Box, 80 

25. Result of Seventy-five Years' Toil, .... 82 

26. Our Work in China, S3 

27. The System of Buddha, ...*••.... 85 

28. Nothing for Missions, 88 

29. Heroism of the Missionary, 93 

30. He Got Nothing from me, 95 

31. The Small Feet of Chinese Ladies, .... 98 

32. The Sacrifices of the Heathen, ..... iot 

33. God's Way of Saving Men, 103 

34. Motive in Giving to Foreign Missions, . . 104 

35. China and the Chinese, 10$ 

36. The Church only Sympathizes with the 

Heathen, 107 

37. Bathing in the Ganges, 109 

38. Missions, n 1 

39. True Mission Work, 112 



CONTENTS. 



13 



9- 

10. 

11. 

12, 

13. 

14. 

15 

16. 

17. 
18, 
19. 
20, 
21. 
22. 

23. 
24. 

25- 
26. 
27. 
28. 
29. 
30- 



Part III. Declamations. 

PAGE. 

A Prophecy, 116 

Design of Christianity, 117 

Preaching the Gospel to All the World, 119 

Our Duty, 120 

The Object of the Missionary, 122 

Giving, 123 

Results Achieved, 124 

What do We Lack? ....•• , . 125 

That Immortal Widow, 125 

The Reason the World is Not Converted, 126 

Importance of Money, 127 

How Much a Negro Boy wanted a Bible, . 128 

We Must Send the Gospel,. . . . 130 

Working for Jesus, 131 

Christianity for the World, 132 

The Lord Preparing the Way, 134 

Signs of the Times, 135 

Reflex Influence of Missions, 137 

What Missions Propose to do, 138 

The Presence of Jesus Insures Victory, . . 140 

Disinterested Benevolence, . 140 

How All may Help, 141 

Victory Certain, 142 

Give the Best to God, 143 

Mission of the Church, 145 

Missions and Commerce, 146 

The Old Gospel Complete, 147 

You must Go, or Send, 148 

The Work Done, 149 

On What Mission ? 151 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE. 

31. The Worth of Missions, 152 

32. Cavilers, 154 

^. Transforming Power of the Gospel, .... 154 

34. Apathy of the Church, 155 

35. Nature of Our Obligation, 157 

36. The Field is the World, 158 

37. Africa, 160 

38. This is the Day of Missions,. ....... 161 

39. Unity of Our Race, 162 

40. Live Grandly, 164 

41. God has Provided the Money,. ...... 166 

42. Certainty of Final Success, 168 

43. An Appeal, 169 

44. The Great Object of Missions, 171 

45. Our Sympathy and Benevolence World-wide, 172 

46. God intends the Evangelization of the 

World, 173 

47. Our Assurance of Success, 174 

48. The True Missionary Spirit, . 175 

49. Move Forward the Column, 177 

50. Infidels not Missionary, 178 

51. Home Demand, 180 

52. The Religion of Jesus Adapted to all Hearts, 181 

53. Honor the Lord with Thy Substance, . . 182 

54. The Heathen African Mother at Her 

Daughter's Grave, 183 

55. Jesus shall be Universal King, 185 

56. Pilgrim's Mission, 186 

57. Not So Easy, 188 

58. Our Mission Field at Home, ....... 188 

59. What of the Night? 189 



CONTENTS. 15 

PAGE. 

60. The Penny He meant to Give, 192 

61. The Hindoo and New Zealander, 193 

62. Home Mission Hymn, 196 

63. Prayer for Missionaries, 197 

64. Unto Him shall the Gathering of the Peo- 

ple be, 197 

65. Home Missionary Hymn, 199 

66. The Lost at Home, 200 

67. The Gospel Summons, 201 

68. Dawning of the Latter Day, 202 

69. The Reign of Christ, 203 

70. Home Mission Hymn, 204 

71. An Argument for Home Missions, 205 

72. So Much to Do, 205 

73. Children in Heathen Lands, 206 

74. The World's Conversion, ......... 208 

75. Prayer for the Heathen, 208 

76. Desiring the Spread of the Gospel, .... 209 

77. Darkness in Palestine, 210 

78. The Latter Day Glory, 211 

79. The Heathen Mother, 212 

80. Divine Power Implored, 212 

81. Pagan Children, 213 

82. The Messengers of God, 214 

S3. Christ's Kingdom among the Gentiles,. . . 215 

84. Divine Power Supplicated, 216 

85. Prayer for the Heathen, 217 

86. Missionaries Remembered, 218 

87. The Final Victory of Christ, 218 

88. Prayer for All Lands, 219 

89. Prayer for Missionaries, 220 

90. Success of the Gospel among the Heathen, 22 r 



1 6 CONTENTS. 

PAGE. 

91. The Kingdom of Christ, 221 

92. Missionaries Charged, 222 

93. The Missionary Angel, 223 

94. Encouraging Prospects, 225 

95. Prayer for Israel, 226 

96. Prayer for the Heathen, 226 

97. Christ the Conqueror, 227 

98. The Glorious Gospel, 228 

99. Praise to Christ the King, 229 

100. The Prince of Salvation, 229 

101. Let there be Light, 230 



Part IY. Dialogues. 

1. The Missionary Collection, . 232 

2. Bright New Cent, 235 

3. Missionary Dialogue, . . . 238 

4. Missionary Money, 242 

5. Dialogue on Missions, 247 

6. A Missionary Lesson, 253 

7. Come Over and help Us, 254 

8. The Kingdom Coming, 256 



Part Y. Closing Addresses. 

1. Valedictory Address, 259 

2. Valedictory, 260 

3. Closing Address, 262 

4. A Short Sermon on Money, 263 

5. In Peril, 265 

6. Exhortation to Universal Praise, 267 



MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 



PART I. 

Opening Addresses. 



1. THE EELATIOK OF THE SUNDAY- SCHOOL TO THE MIS- 
SIOffAKY CAUSE. 

The Sabbath-school is said to be the nursery 
of the Church, and the hope of the world. In a 
very important sense this is true. There can be 
no doubt that the training we receive in this 
school will be of permanent benefit to us in after 
years. It may be that these impressions and in- 
fluences now at work are unobservable and silent; 
but there can be no question about the fact. The 
right way to have a nation of sober men is to 
begin lessons of temperance with the boys. In- 
deed, in every department of morals, it is neces- 
sary to begin with childhood. A very large per 
cent of the members of the various Churches 
were converted under twenty years of age. And 
the Sunday-school soil is the place to sow seeds 

2 



1 8 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

of missionary thought. If all our scholars could 
grow up with the conviction that they are to take 
an active part in the salvation of all our race, we 
would soon have a generation of men and women 
fully imbued with an irresistible missionary zeal. 
Let the millions of Sunday-school children be ed- 
ucated to give and to pray for this great object, 
and soon all idolatry and every false system would 
be swept away as with a mighty whirlwind. A 
proper appreciation of the need of the world is 
essential to a thorough Christian character. Mis- 
sionary Christians are giants; they enter more 
closely into the plans and purposes of the blessed 
Redeemer. They are in full sympathy with Jesus, 
for he said that his Gospel was intended for "all 
the world" He is not a partial Savior, but "by 
the grace of God he tasted death for every man." 
Dear Christian friends, as a Sabbath-school we 
desire to do our part in this work. We hope you 
will give us your patient attention to-night, and 
encourage us in our efforts. We are glad of your 
presence. We may not be able to do as well as 
older heads. Remember your treatment of us 
when we were very little children, just beginning 
to walk. You supported us in our tottering, and 
kept us from falling. We are now taking our 
first steps in the great duties of life. We may 
frequently waver, but extend your hands to us, 



OPENINCx ADDRESSES. 1 9 

and give us your sympathy. My classmates have 

some good things to say, to which we now ask 

your respectful attention. 

w. t. s. 

2. OUR ORDERS. 

"Go ye into all the world and preach the 
Gospel to every creature. " This is the Christian's 
marching orders from the Captain of his salvation. 
And it is not optional with us whether we go. 
The command is imperative. "Go" says our 
Commander, and every soldier in this army who 
fails to comply with the order is guilty of insub- 
ordination. It is not for us to look at the obsta- 
cles, or to begin to frame excuses; we must go. 
"But," says one, "how can I go? I am not 
qualified. I can not leave my family." I do not 
suppose it possible for every one to go in person. 
But let me tell you how you can go. 

First, By your prayers. How little praying 
there is for the conversion of the world! In our 
closets how seldom we remember the far off mis- 
sionary in his lonely toil! And it would not take 
long for our prayers to reach a throne of grace 
by way of India or China. A prayer can encircle 
the globe quicker than a message by telegraph. 
And the best of it all is, God will hear such 
prayers and speedily answer them. 



20 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

Secondly, you can go by your money. In the 
late war, when some men were drafted, they 
hired a substitute, and thus their place was filled 
in the South by another. It may be that God 
would have you send a substitute to India, if you 
can not go in person. What a grand thing it 
would be if some of our rich men would support 
a minister in the foreign field. God may not 
have given that rich man the brains to preach; 
but he has given him the faculty to make money. 
But if you can not give so much you are not ex- 
cused from giving at all. Ah, no! I have read 
of awidow that gave two mites, and it immortal- 
ized her. In the eyes of the Savior it was a 
large amount. 

We are here to-night, dear friends, to look 

into the nature of our marching orders, and learn 

if we are keeping step to the voice of our Great 

Leader. We trust that the evening will be a 

profitable one, and that our missionary zeal will 

be quickened. 

w. t. s. 

— o~4seg>~s — 

j 3. SUNDAY-SCHOOLS AND MISSIONS. 

The conversion of the world is the sublime 
idea of the world to-day — a conviction wrought 
by the agency of the Holy Spirit. Do we desire 
to awaken a deeper interest in this work? The 



OPENING ADDRESSES. 21 

Sunday-school most certainly furnishes a promis- 
ing field for successful labor to this end. Here is 
to be found not only to a large extent the working 
force among our Church members at the present 
time, but here also are those from whom a large 
proportion of our Church members in the future 
is to come. Indeed, a fairer field could not be 
desired. It has the promise of present and future 
harvests. As I look out upon it, as I think of 
the prosperity of our missionary Zion in the years 
which are before us, if we but give ourselves to 
this work, my heart is stirred within me. Henry 
Clay was once crossing the Alleghanies from the 
East, and having reached the summit of a ridge 
whence he could look down upon the broad valley 
of the Mississippi, which stretched westward with 
the purple distance, he alighted from his carriage, 
and soon after . was observed by a companion 
standing with his hand raised to his ear in the 
attitude of a listener, while his eye glanced over 
the wide prospect before him. " What do you 
hear ?" asked his companion. " I seem to hear," 
he replied, "the footsteps of coming millions." 
So here to-day, from this commanding height upon 
which we stand, looking out upon a goodly inher- 
itance which God has given us, and thinking of 
the accessions of earnest workers which mission 
effort in our Sunday-schools will give to our mis- 



2 2 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

sionary enterprise, a stronger faith than that of a 
prophetic statesman is begotten within me, and 
with the Gentile prophet of old I am led to ex- 
claim, "From the tops of the rocks I see them, 
and from the hills I behold them ; who can count 
the dust of Jacob, and number the fourth part of 
Israel ?" 

REV. S. H. BUR RAGE. 

4. MISSIONARY MEETING. 
Assembled at thy great command, 
Before thy face, dread King, we stand: 
The voice that marshaled every star 
Has called thy people from afar. 

We meet through distant lands to spread 
The truth for which the martyrs bled; 
Along the line — to either pole — 
The anthem of thy praise to roll. 

Our prayers assist; accept our praise; 
Our hopes revive; our courage raise; 
Our counsels aid ; to each impart 
The single eye, the faithful heart. 

Forth with thy chosen heralds come ; 
Recall the wandering spirits home : 
From Zion's mount send forth the sound, 
To spread the spacious earth around. 

COLLYER. 






OPENING ADDRESSES. 23 

5. THE OREAT COMMISSION. 

11 Go, preach my Gospel !" saitli the Lord, 
" Bid the whole earth my grace receive : 
He shall be saved who trusts my word, 
And he condemned who wo n't believe. 

I '11 make your great commission known, 
And ye shall prove my Gospel true, 

By all the works that I have done, 
By all the wonders ye shall do 

Teach all the nations my commands, 
I 'm with you till the world shall end; 

All power is trusted in my hands, 
I can destroy, and I defend." 

He spake — and light shone round his head ; 

On a bright cloud, to heaven he rode : 
They, to the farthest nations, spread 

The grace of their ascended God. 

WATTS. 

: — c~«taog~< 

6. THE PIELD IS THE WORLD, 

The religion of our Savior is intended to be 
universal. It is adapted to all people, and to all 
time. The most cultivated and the most ignorant 
are benefited by it. It is a blessing to the richest 
as well as the poorest. There have been wonder- 
ful strides in science and the arts, but there is no 



24 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

danger that people will become so much enlightened 
as not to need the Gospel of the Son of God. As 
long as there is a sinful heart, or bereavement, 
or a desire for immortality, as long as these things 
are felt in the human soul, there will be a neces- 
sity for this Gospel. And there is nothing that 
can take its place. We look at the men and 
women of India (and that is a sample of all lands 
without the Bible), and we see the various expe- 
dients resorted to that they may have peace. 
They take weary pilgrimages to some shrine; they 
inflict the severest self-torture • they offer human 
sacrifices, but it is all in vain. There comes no 
peace. The standard of the cross is lifted up in 
their midst, and here and there are those who will 
leap over the walls of caste and trust in the Re- 
deemer of the world for salvation. Then they find 
relief. The result is the same there as here — prov- 
ing the adaptability of this religion to all hearts. A 
converted Chinamen has the same precious peace 
that we have. The turbulence of their hearts is 
hushed by the same blessed voice. Shall we not do 
our part in spreading to the earth's utmost bound 
this religion ? Jesus expects us to do this. He has 
said that the "field is the world," and he has 
commanded us to cultivate it. Those who are to 
follow me will speak on this theme. May our 
hearts burn within us while they talk ! w. t. s. 



OPENING ADDRESSES. 25 

7. OUR WORK, 

Dear Parents and Friends. — We most cor- 
dially welcome you this evening. It is a source 
of no little pleasure to us to see so many present. 
This will encourage us to do our best. Smiles 
are always better than frowns. Cheerfulness 
makes hard work easy. If we could learn these 
lessons in every day life it would sweeten our toil, 
and give joy to the world. But I did not intend 
to moralize. This is a missionary meeting. 
While young we desire to learn our duty to the 
world, so that we may do good when we grow 
older. The Bible tells us that at some time the 
name of Jesus will be known by the people of all 
nations. We know this will be so or the Bible 
would not have said it. When we look at the 
difficulties in the way, it seems impossible. But 
Jesus is superior to all obstacles. There was a 
very small company present at the first missionary 
meeting. Jesus said to them, (i Go into all the 
world, and preach the Gospel to every creature." 
They were without money, without influential 
friends. They were obscure men. They had the 
promise of but one thing, but that was sufficient. 
Jesus said, ' ; Lo, I am with you alway." The 
presence of Jesus was all they had. They went 
forth to conquer. Soon their victories subdued 



26 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

the Roman Empire. This is our great need to- 
day — the presence of Jesus. That will be a guar- 
antee of success. Will you not pray that our mis- 
sionaries at home and abroad may have this abid- 
ing presence ? 

We need to awaken to the importance of this 
work. Dear friends, will you not think more 
about it? We are too much occupied with our 
local work. We need enlarged views. Let us 
look through the telescope that Jesus used, and 
then we shall see the whole world. This will 
arouse our energies. After awhile we hope to go 
to heaven, and from the battlements of glory we 
can behold the result of toil — a regenerated race. 

w. t. s. 

>^2X^^ 

8. AN OPENING ADDRESS. 
We are convened to-night, dear friends, to 
take into consideration a subject that should be 
very near every Christian heart. The bare thought 
itself, of the conversion of this entire world, shows 
its divine origin. No human mind could conceive 
such a sublime idea. And it is not a mere fancy 
of the imagination, but is destined to be a glorious 
reality. We look at the power of sin, and its 
universal domain, and our hearts are appalled, 
and we falter; but we turn to God's Word and 
we are assured that "the kingdoms of this world 



OPENING ADDRESSES. 27 

shall become the kingdom of our Lord, and of 
his Christ." Again, it is asserted by the voice of 
the Almighty that "the heathen shall be given to 
Christ for his inheritance, and the uttermost parts 
of the earth for his possession." After reading 
these, and many similar promises, we take courage. 
Your attention will be called to this all absorb- 
ing theme by my school-mates, and I bespeak for 
them a patient hearing. We trust that we are 
doing the Lord's work in thus trying to extend 
his kingdom in the world. In after life, when 
the members of our school shall become men and 
women, we hope to do much in this great work. 
And it may be that God will call some of us to 
go to foreign lands, and there tell the perishing 
multitudes of Jesus and his love. We could hope 
for no higher honor. 

w. T. SMITH. 



I*ARLX II. 

Select Readings. 



1. THE VICTORY SURE. 
One certain pledge of victory is in assurances 
of the Word of God. No believer in the Bible 
can intelligently doubt it for a single moment. 
The hope of missions is founded in prophecy. 
That divine foreknowledge, which saw the con- 
flict in all its fearful intensity, also saw the glo- 
rious triumph of the Gospel. If ever the chilling 
thought comes that all our missionary efforts may 
appear in the future as a sublime yet melancholy 
spectacle of mistaken zeal, that all our present 
trophies of success may be retaken, and our van- 
tage ground be submerged by some new tide of 
human history, the answer is at hand, for the 
mouth of the Lord hath spoken it — that "His 
Word shall not return to him void, but shall ac- 
complish whereunto it is sent;" that "the heathen 
are to be given to Christ, and the uttermost parts 
of the earth for his possession." This is the vision 
of infinite foreknowledge, this is the utterance of 



SELECT READINGS. 29 

infinite wisdom. This is the word of the Lord, 
"which endureth forever." The missionary cause 
does not stand in jeopardy. In giving our funds 
to its treasury we do not put them in a vessel that 
is destined to sink beneath the waves. Though 
the contest be fierce, yet "the kingdom and do- 
main and the greatness of the kingdom under the 
whole heaven shall be given to the people of the 
saints of the Most High, whose kingdom is an ever- 
lasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and 
obey him." Are the people unwilling, they shall be 
willing in the day of God's power. Are there 
now tides of wickedness flowing down to the 
bottomless pit? "It shall come to pass in the 
last days that the mountain of the Lord's house 
shall be established in the top of the mountains, 
and shall be exalted above the hills, and all na- 
tions shall flow unto it." The little stone cut from 
the mountain without hands shall smite the image, 
and shall fill the whole earth. The march of 
history is the march of Christ's kingdom to the 
millennium, when he shall have "dominion from 
sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of 
the earth." Of this fact we may know, not only 
because we may hear the tramping of the footfalls, 
but more especially because God has interpreted 
history by prophecy. 

REV. S. H. ADAMS. 



30 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

2. RESULT OF CHRISTIANITY. 
To give Christianity to a people is to give 
dominion over the materialities of the world; 
over the spirit of steam that drives the iron arms 
of the world's machinery, over the spirit that 
Franklin evoked from the heavens, which, swift 
as angelic messenger, annihilates distance; it is to 
give the proudest products of the intellect of man, 
the inductive philosophy of Bacon, the science of 
Newton, the poetry of Milton; it is to uplift the 
genius of liberty, to proclaim the royalty of that 
blood that leaps in the world's veins; it is to give 
the revelation of God comprehended in Jesus 
Christ; and to the limitations of time it adds the 
peerless thought of an immortal future. Wherever 
Christianity has gone it has led the way to social 
and national development. When Rome was in 
its splendor, a savage and tattooed race roamed 
and raged over the isle of Great Britain. Chris- 
tianity came to that western race and conquered 
it. It imbibed the best blood of the old Scandi- 
navian sea kings of the north— the vikings that 
smote the brine. Christianity kindled the intel- 
lect, woke the soul, advanced the standard of 
liberty, and finally planted the Anglo-Saxon race 
upon this American continent, until now Britain 
and Columbia unitedly rule the waves. Chris- 



SELECT READINGS. 3 1 

tianity is marching over the earth with her triumph- 
ant strides. Protestant Christianity is ascendant 
in the councils of Europe. There is not one 
stalwart, sinewy system of error upon the earth. 
O Christianity, thou angel of the morning, I 
see thee skipping along the hills and leaping upon 
the mountains; and from thy sunlit pinnacle 
thou art evermore stooping down to lift up hu- 
manity and clasp it to thy heart of love! Ad- 
vance, run, flee over all the earth, till the language 
of the good old Methodist hymn is realized, 

"When Christ shall all the nations bless 
That see the light, that feel the sun!" 

REV. GEORGE DOUGLAS. 



3. THE CHILDREN'S PENNIES. 

It has been the practice in most Sunday- 
schools to take penny collections every Sunday 
for missionary and other charitable purposes. 
These penny collections in the aggregate amount to 
a large sum. This is all well. It early begets and 
fosters in the child's heart the spirit of true benev- 
olence. It is also in accordance with the Scrip- 
tural method of systematic beneficence — "on the 
first day of the week." These contributions 
should be encouraged and looked after by the 
teacher in every class. Let every scholar make a 



32 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

regular weekly offering of at least one cent to the 
Lord's treasury. But these penny collections 
ought to be guarded in their objects. They should 
not be used for home purposes, because that is not 
according to the spirit of Christian giving. They 
ought to be unselfish, going out toward others, 
while the home expenses of the school are met in 
some other way. Do not take the children's 
penny contributions to buy books for their own 
library, or to purchase a piano, or to hang pic- 
tures around the room. That is. helping self. It 
appeals to the wrong principle. Begin early in 
the Sunday-school to cultivate an outgoing charity. 
Let it be understood that all these littles are going 
abroad to help others who can not help them- 
selves. No object so appeals to the spirit of true 
benevolence as that of Foreign Missions. Let our 
Sunday-schools become closely linked with our 
great missionary interests in foreign lands. One 
way to make Churches benevolent is to pre-empt 
the Sunday-schools in the interest of Christian 
missions to the heathen. 



4. BEOTHEEHOOD. 

There is a great brotherhood of birth to us 
all. In the beginning God created man in his 
own imaire. So that wherever man is found to- 



SELECT READINGS. 33 

day, there we find a brother. No intervening 
space and no variation of condition can weaken 
our obligation to him, because it is divinely im- 
posed. As we remember how dear our hope in 
Christ is to us to-day, so are we bound to con- 
sider that the Savior is no more precious to us 
than he might be to the benighted millions of dis- 
tant climes. They are immortal with ourselves. 
They need the same Savior in whom we trust. 
We owe a heavy debt to the race as a race. This 
obligation thus viewed we recognize in many ways. 
When, years ago, the terrors of famine impended 
over Ireland, we sent a cargo of food to the hun- 
gry poor. And during the Franco-Prussian strug- 
gle we contributed for the wounded and needy 
of both nations. And what is true of our own 
people is equally so of other nations. When the 
cities of Chicago and Boston were so fearfully 
devastated by fire, contributions were poured forth 
not only from the towns and cities of our own 
land, but distant nations felt the impulse to send 
relief, and responded. And if men are so consti- 
tuted as to recognize the principle of brotherhood 
in material thiugs, what have we a right to expect 
when they are born into the likeness of Christ? 
From them we hear the Macedonian cry, " Come 
over and help us." Who can doubt that salvation 
would be as sweet to them as it is to us ? And 
3 



34 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

would not heaven be as dear to them? No one 
can look abroad and say, These things are nothing 
to me ; these people may be sinful and ignorant, 
but I have all I can do at home, I am not respon- 
sible for their condition. The old question comes 
down the stream of time losing none of its force. 
" IVhere is thy brother?" Certainly we are re- 
sponsible for his condition. At least we are re- 
sponsible for anything in his moral and spiritual 
condition from which we could have relieved him. 
This obligation springs from the great law of kin- 
dredship. And if we fail to heed the call we can 
not with the great apostle to the Gentiles say, " I 
am free from the blood of all men." 

REV. S. F. BROWN. 



5. WHAT THE GOSPEL DOES FOR MEN. 

What is it to send the Gospel? It is to send a new 
and strong stimulus into the muscles of men ; it is 
to increase the productiveness of human labor, for 
it is sooner or later followed by the plow, the com- 
pass, the light-house, the railroad, the telegraph, the 
steam-engine; it is to husband the re-sources of 
men ; it is to increase the necessaries of life, mul- 
tiply the conveniences of life, and improve the arts 
of life ; for the Gospel has the promise of the life 
that now is, as well as that which is to come. 



SELECT READINGS. 35 

It is to send a new, and powerful, and perma- 
nent impetus into the minds of men ; for, sooner 
or later, to send the Gospel is to send the school- 
master, the alphabet, the map, the black-board, 
the scale which measures the heavens, and the 
balances which weigh the planets; it is to send 
Locke, and Newton, and Milton— philosophy, and 
science, and song in their noblest forms. But 
aside from this the Gospel is the great stimulus of 
the intellect — its doctrines, its promises, its reve- 
lations expand, awaken, and energize the soul. 

To send the Gospel is to send liberty. It is a 
great declaration of independence; it is a divine 
declaration of human independence ; it is the 
Magna Charta of human rights; it proclaims the 
dignity, the equality, and the immortality of man; 
it stands him up in the image of the Creator, the 
child of God, the heir of glory; it points him in- 
ward to a tribunal more august than any human 
bar; it points him upward to a higher law, which 
sweeps the compass of the universe; it points him 
onward to the fires of the last da)', when, inde- 
pendent of all human governments, each man shall 
stand up to give an account of himself. Once 
let a man understand his religious rights, and he will 
soon assert his civil rights, for the major includes 
the minor — the path of civil liberty has always 
been in the religious liberty, and always will be. 



36 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

To send the Gospel is to send morality, a per- 
fect rule of right — love to God and love to man — 
a rule which, though it might not be discovered 
by reason, commends itself to reason — a perfect 
motive to obedience, which, because it is infi- 
nite, can not be exceeded — an encouragement to 
a fallen and guilty man to struggle with tempta- 
tion, even the promise of an infinite aid. 

To send the Gospel is to send salvation — to 
close the mouth of hell and open the gate of 
heaven. 

BISHOP THOMSON. 

6. FOREIGN MISSIONS A DISINTERESTED BENEVOLENCE. 
In no department of Christian effort is there 
so much that is calculated to make our giving and 
our labor disinterested as missions. If we build 
a church, it is to benefit our own parish; if we 
give to the support of our pastor, it is to benefit 
our own community. As our own parish and 
community are benefited, we are; for we are a 
constituent part of them. Not so in the giving to 
missions; we support them as a foreign enterprise, 
for the good they will do to those who are far 
away — for the good that will come to the souls of 
those whom we never expect to see in this world. 
The giving is solely for their spiritual good. 
Hence this species of benevolence is not engaged 



SELECT READINGS. 37 

in for personal benefit, or for any supposed benefit 
to our own community or nation, or even a 
thought of any good to self in return. This work, 
thus viewed, is necessarily disinterested. Hence 
it will "give into your bosom" a rich spiritual 
blessing. Thus the poor widow gave the two 
mites. Her blessing far outweighed the gifts cast 
into the treasury by the rich. She was com- 
mended by our Lord. In like manner will he 
commend Christians now who, of their penury, 
give to send the bread of life to the millions who 
are perishing for the lack of it. 

According to the Scripture rule of giving and 
laboring, none is so sure of reacting for good as 
that which is disinterested. There is no giving or 
doing that is so profitable as that which excludes 
self — as that which necessarily excludes the hope 
of personal gain. Surely, no acts, no gifts, no 
labors, are so precious to Christ as those which 
are intended to save the souls of men. No efforts 
to save the souls of men are so disinterested as 
those bestowed for the salvation of pagans thou- 
sands of miles away. The Christian who con- 
tributes his money for this purpose knows that it 
is sent far away, and will be spent in some desir- 
able manner to enlighten a mind and heart all 
fettered and bound down with sin, and influence 
him to repent. It may give some one a portion,. 



38 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

or the whole, of God's Word; and it may prove the 
instrument in lifting the cloud of superstition from 
an immortal soul, leading it to the laver of regen- 
tion, where, washed and made white in the blood 
of the Lamb, it shall ultimately sparkle forever as 
a gem in the diadem of the Redeemer. Such gifts 
do not go unrewarded; the donor is not forgotten 
by Him who notes even the fall of a sparrow. 

DR. S. T. ANDERSON. 

— >-<m&-< — 
7. MODEEN MISSIONS BENEFICIAL. 
The results of modern missionary efforts are 
full of encouragement. Since this century began, 
more than two hundred islands of Eastern and 
Southern Polynesia have been led to renounce 
idolatry; four hundred thousand souls have been 
brought under Christian influence, of whom two 
hundred and fifty thousand are still living; over 
fifty thousand of these are communicants in Chris- 
tian Churches. Fifty years ago the Sandwich 
Islanders were cannibals, the lowest of the human 
race. To-day this people is recognized among 
the families of nations possessing the blessings of 
modern civilization. The proportion of children 
attending school is greater than that in Boston. 
The Australian aborigines were generally thought 
beyond the reach of civilization and Christianity. 
They were fearfully debased. Infanticide existed 



SELECT READINGS. 39 

in its most horrible forms. In their original 
tongue there are no equivalent words for love, 
faith, forgiveness, truth, or honesty. Nor have 
the people any conception of such virtues. No 
religion of any kind exists among them, unless it 
be a vague notion of good and evil spirits. They 
fear no power but witchcraft; the only dictates 
they follow are those of superstition, revenge, 
jealousy and lust. For thirty-six years several 
missionary organizations labored among them ap- 
parently in vain. Even the most courageous be- 
gan to despair. But the day of triumph has 
dawned at length. Converts have been won 
from the forests, and are now settled in villages. 
The population is increasing. The converts de- 
vote themselves to gardening and mechanical 
pursuits; the children pursue regular courses of 
study, and young and old adopt the usages and 
habits of civilization. Many give the clearest 
proof of change of heart, and some have died in 
Christian triumph. And this transformation has been 
produced by the Gospel. A letter from one of the 
missionaries to a colonial newspaper says, u We tes- 
tify that no real change for the better occurred 
among the natives until they received the Gospel ; 
then the change began." "The government of 
India," says the last Parliament Blue Book, "can 
not but acknowledge the great obligation under 



40 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

which it is laid by the benevolent exertions made 
by the five hundred missionaries, whose blame- 
less lives and example of self-sacrificing labors, 
are infusing new vigor into the stereotyped lives 
of the great populace placed under English rule, 
and are preparing them to be in every way better 
citizens of the great empire in which they live." 
In Turkey, the most difficult of all fields, the 
work of the missionaries has revolutionized the 
national school system. Under the old rule, there 
was no classification, the language of the people 
was net taught at all. Beginning every morning 
with the alphabet, they proceeded to spelling and 
thus on, the most advanced scholar being kept 
back with the one just commencing. The mis- 
sionaries published text-books in the common lan- 
guage, classified the pupils, and thus drew away 
the children, until in self defense, the Turks were 
compelled to adopt the entire system, books and 
all, of the missionaries. Fifty years ago Mada- 
gascar was entirely heathen, now there are nearly 
five hundred thousand Christians, and between 
six hundred and seven hundred churches. 

C A. VAN ANDA. 

8. BESULT IS SOUTH PACIFIC ISLANDS. 
Sixty-five years ago there was not a solitary 
native Christian in Polynesia ; now it would be 



SELECT READINGS. 41 

difficult to find a professed idolator in the islands 
of Eastern or Central Polynesia where Christian 
missionaries have been established. The hideous 
rites of their forefathers have ceased to be prac- 
ticed. Their heathen legends and war-songs are 
forgotten ; their cruel and desolating tribal wars, 
which were rapidly destroying the population, 
appear to be at an end. They are gathered to- 
gether in peaceful village communities ; they live 
under recognized codes of laws; they are con- 
structing roads, cultivating their fertile lands, and 
engaging in commerce. On the return of the Sab- 
bath, a very large proportion of the population 
attend the worship of God, and, in some instances, 
more than half the adult population are recognized 
members of Christian Churches. They educate 
their children, endeavoring to train them for useful- 
ness in after life. They sustain their native minis- 
ters, and send their noblest sons as missionaries to 
the heathen lands which lie further west. There 
may not be the culture, the wealth, the refinement 
of the older lands of Christendom — these things 
are the slow growth of ages — but these lands must 
no longer be regarded as part of heathendom. In 
God's faithfulness and mercy they have been won 
from the domains of heathendom, and have been 
added to the domains of Christendom. 

REPORT OF LONDON MISS. SOCIETY. 



42 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

9. ORPHANAGE OP THE HEATHEN. 
One of the first things that our precious 
mothers taught us was, with folded hands and in- 
fant voices, to say, " Our Father which art in 
heaven." One of the first names we learned, from 
maternal lips, was that of Jesus, and one of the 
first stories' we ever learned was that of his dying 
love in our behalf; and in no period of our lives, 
in our condition of sin, folly, fear, and agitation, 
under no circumstances) have we felt that we were 
without a Savior. As in our childhood and youth 
we sang and heard of heaven, we have never felt 
that we were homeless; we have never felt the 
chill of annihilation; we have never felt uncer- 
tain about the future; we have always had before 
us a bright and beautiful heaven; and having had 
these instructions and these blessings, we can 
hardly appreciate the condition of the heathen 
world. We have never had their feeling of or- 
phanage ; and oh, what an orphanage it is to feel 
that we have no Father in heaven, no divine par- 
ent, no eternal God ! What an orphanage is that 
for a reflecting mind, an aspiring spirit, an immor- 
tal existence ! We have always had a God to 
worship and to love, and I insist that there can be 
no full and perfect happiness even in this world 
without this infinite excellence to love. 



SELECT READINGS. 43 

One of the earliest missionaries to India, an 
excellent Baptist minister, gives us this incident : 
One day a heathen youth came hurriedly into his 
presence, and, in an agitated manner, said to him : 
11 Sir, I have a precious flower to give to some one, 
but I can find none worthy to receive it." The 
missionary understood his figurative language, and 
he began at once to describe to him Jesus, the one 
altogether lovely, the one of infinite beauty and 
excellence; and no sooner did he cease the de- 
scription of his character, and the statement of his 
love, than this intelligent heathen youth exclaimed 
with earnestness, "I give Jesus my flower [mean- 
ing his heart], for he is worthy." In all that realm 
around him he could find nothing worthy of his 
highest love, nothing that would satisfy the affec- 
tions of his immortal soul. And that want is felt 
by every heathen to-night. We have always had 
a God in whom to trust in the time of danger, in 
the season of apprehension, in the period of suf- 
fering. Whenever we have felt that our strength 
was inadequate to our circumstances, we have 
always been able to lean upon a divine arm, and 
feel that in Omnipotence there is help. I repeat, 
then, we can hardly appreciate the condition of 
the heathen world which is without the knowledge 
of this God, which has no conception of this Sav- 
ior, and no anticipations of this heaven. In this 



44 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

destitution of all this knowledge, how gloomy, sad, 
and disconsolate must be their experience ! God 
help us to pity them. 

BISHOP JANES. 

— ^#2X3&^ 

10. CONFUCIUS. 

For good and for evil, through two millenni- 
ums, Confucius has exerted an influence over man- 
kind such as has not been exerted by any other 
mortal known to our race. The son of poor, but 
honest, parents, and born some time in the year 
B. C. 549, in the petty kingdom of Lu, in the 
province of Shantung, he early evinced a taste for 
learning. Bereft of his father when but three 
years old, he was left to the care of his mother, 
who directed his studies and nurtured in him a 
respect for morality. Grave in his demeanor, he 
loved the ancients, and quoted their sayings to re- 
buke the immoralities of his age. Believing that 
heaven had commissioned him to be the teacher of 
his countrymen, he traveled from province to 
province, and, rejecting the proffer of royal favors, 
he gathered around him many disciples, who re- 
corded his sayings, which have been transmitted 
to our times. In no sense a religious teacher, he 
was a moralist, a reformer, a statesman. He 
taught the Five Relations, such as subsist between 
emperor and officer, father and son, husband and 



LELECT READINGS. 45 

wife, elder and younger brothers, and friends 
and also the Five Virtues, as benevolence, right- 
eousness, propriety, knowledge, and faith. When 
asked by a disciple the meaning of benevolence, 
he gave the negative of the Golden Rule : " What 
you do not want done to yourself do not do to 
others." His definition of righteousness was 
"that which ought to be done." His highest 
idea of propriety was the respect due a superior 
from an inferior. His scope of knowledge em- 
braced acquaintance with one's self, and practical 
wisdom in dealing with others. He had no higher 
conception of faith than sincerity and truthfulness. 
His chief study was the human conscience, and 
he appealed to nothing higher as the reason for 
right action. Denying man's depravity, he be- 
lieved in the possible attainment of the highest 
moral excellence, unaided by any power from on 
high. He was devout, but not religious. Him- 
self conforming to the prevailing idolatry of his 
times, yet when pressed by a disciple to teach 
him something as to the gods, he tartly replied, 
" Speak little concerning the gods; treat the gods 
with respect: but keep out of their way." He 
ignored and dismissed from view the doctrine of 
a future state. His response to a disciple was : 
"'Imperfectly acquainted with life, how can I 
know of death ! " He may have employed the 



46 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

term heaven as the equivalent of God, but be has 
left no assurance that he knew him who is the 
"same yesterday, to-day, and forever." With sin- 
cerity and modesty worthy of commendation, he 
declared his own failure to attain to the excellency 
of the standard he had raised for others. "The 
sage and the man of perfect virtue — how dare I 
rank myself with them ? It may simply be said of 
me that I strive to become such without satiety, 
and to teach others without weariness. In the way 
of the superior man there are four things, to not 
one of which have I as yet attained. To serve my 
father as I would require my son to serve me — to 
this I have not attained. To serve my prince as I 
would require my minister to serve me — to this I 
have not attained. To serve my elder brother 
as I would require my younger brother to serve 
me — to this I have not attained. To set the ex- 
ample in behaving to a friend as I would have 
him behave to me — to this I have not attained." 
With these failures confessed, he died at the age 
of seventy, B. C. 479. His death was melan- 
choly. A few days prior to his demise, he tot- 
tered about his house mournfully sighing : 

The great mountain is broken ! 

The strong beam is thrown down ! 

The wise man is decayed ! 

DR. J. P. NEWMAN. 



SELECT READINGS. 47 

11. EXCUSES POE WITHHOLDING MONET, 

One would help the good cause if he were not 
in debt: "Men must be just before they are gen- 
erous." In rare instances this excuse may be 
valid. Unlooked for losses, or protracted sick- 
ness, may have left a Christian in such embarrass- 
ments that he deserves the sympathy aud, perhaps, 
the assistance of his brethren ; but if he possesses 
the genuinely benevolent spirit of the Gospel, he 
will deeply regret his inability to aid in all praise- 
worthy enterprises. But because this excuse is 
sometimes justifiable, there are men who contrive 
always to be in debt. They are buying additional 
town-lots, or more land, or they are entering upon 
new branches of business requiring a larger outlay 
of money. While constantly and rapidly increas- 
ing their store of worldly goods, when approached 
on the subject of contributing to benevolent enter- 
prises, they excuse themselves on the plea of debt. 
Professed Christians offering such vain and irra- 
tional apologies for the neglect of a plain duty 
need not be surprised to find themselves suffering 
spiritual leanness. It is a good rule to avoid debt. 
"Owe no man any thing, except love one 
another." Going recklessly into debt induces 
untold anxieties, and "the borrower is servant to 
the lender." 



48 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

Another excuse is based upon heavy family ex- 
penses. What right has a man to project his style 
of living upon such a scale as to have nothing for 
God and his poor? Men of large means may 
build fine houses, ride in elegant carriages, and, 
in moderation, enjoy the comforts and luxuries of 
life; but not by using the means they ought to 
devote to charitable purposes. Those of large 
wealth should set an example of plainness of 
dress and economy in living to others in more 
moderate circumstances. All classes should live 
within their income. The indulgence of expen- 
sive luxuries keeps many a family poor. Thou- 
sands upon thousands of Christians spend their 
scores and hundreds of dollars for useless luxuries, 
and are able to give only a few dimes for the 
world's conversion. 

REV. HOMER S. THRALL. 



12. OOVETOUSNESS. 
If selfishness be the prevailing form of sin, as 
hindering the progress of the kingdom of Christ, 
covetousness may be regarded as the prevailing 
form of selfishness. This is strikingly intimated 
by the Apostle Paul when describing the "peril- 
ous times" of the final apostasy; he represents 
selfishness as the prolifiic root of all the evils 



SELECT READINGS. 49 

which will then prevail, and covetousness as its 
first fruit. "For men shall be lovers of their 
own selves, covetous." In passing, therefore, 
from the consideration of selfishness in general, 
to this form of it in particular, we need not labor 
to magnify its importance. A very little reflection 
will suffice to show that while the other forms of 
selfishness are partial in their existence this is 
universal; that it lies in our daily path, and sur- 
rounds us like the atmosphere ; that it exceeds all 
others in the plausibility of its pretenses, and the 
insidiousness of its operations; that it is com- 
monly the last form of selfishness that leaves the 
heart; and that Christians who have compara- 
tively escaped all the others may still be uncon- 
sciously enslaved by this. It is the expressed 
opinion of a celebrated writer that "covetousness 
will, in all probability, prove the eternal over- 
throw of more characters among professing Chris- 
tians than any other sin, because it is almost the 
only crime which can be indulged in, and a pro- 
fession of religion at the same time supported." 
It is also alleged that "it operates more than any 
other sin to hold the Church in apparent league 
with the world, and to defeat its design, and rob 
it of its honors, as the instrument of the world's 
conversion." Covetousness is most frequently 
manifested in an inordinate craving after worldly 
4 



SO MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

good, and especially after money as its general 
representative. This passion for money exists in 
various degrees, and exhibits itself in different 
aspects. The most obvious and general distinc- 
tion, perhaps, is that which divides it into the 
desire of getting, as contradistinguished from keep- 
ing that which is already possessed. But each of 
these divisions is capable of subdivision. World- 
liness, rapacity, and an ever-craving, all-consum- 
ing prodigality may belong to the one, and parsi- 
mony, niggardliness, and avarice to the other. 
The word covetousness, however, is popularly em- 
ployed as synonymous with each of these terms, 
and is comprehensive of them all. 

REV. JOHN HARRIS. 



13. THE BELIGION OF CHINA, 

The Tauist priests teach the people that the 
moment a man dies he is arrested by a policeman 
in the spirit-land and led to judgment. The first 
thing done is to place a cup of cold water at the 
door that he may take his last drink, and this is 
followed by other acts designed for his comfort. 
Believing that the dead have become invisible, 
every thing designed for them must be rendered 
invisible by burning; hence a new suit of clothes 



SELECT READINGS. 5 I 

are burned that the dear departed may appear 
well, and thereby secure consideration from the 
officer who has him in charge. Knowing from 
experience in this life that policemen are not above 
a bribe, a quantity of din is burned to induce the 
policeman to allow his prisoner to escape before 
being brought to the judge. This din is thin paper, 
covered with tin-foil, pasted together to represent 
sycee, which is the silver currency of China; and 
the priests teach that the imitation is the currency 
in the spirit-world, and such is the demand for it 
that two-thirds of the women of the empire are 
engaged in its manufacture. It is, therefore, cus- 
tomary for the friends and relatives of the dead 
to send in contributions of sycee to enable the 
departed to bribe the officials of the land of 
shades, or pay the prison-keepers for some addi- 
tional comfort. These contributions are made the 
more readily from the belief that the dead are in 
a position to revenge themselves of the living, 
and fearing that they may have injured the de- 
parted in this life, they seek to appease him in 
death by providing for his comfort. It is, there- 
fore, no uncommon occurrence in China for a 
man to commit suicide to place himself in a po- 
sition to avenge his wrongs. "Revenge is sweet." 
And the absurdity and wickedness of this Tauistic 
fraud become the more apparent in the service 



52 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

which is called "Kung-tuh," by which the evil 
spirits are subdued or forced to depart. 

DR. J. P. NEWMAN. 



14. SO MUCH TO DO AT HOME. 

[The following comes to the New York Observer from a lone 
missionary in Africa, who left a home of luxury, and a circle of 
refinement, to engage in self-denying labors for the salvation of the 
lost in that dark land. The indirect appeal which it contains 
derives greatly increased force from the sacrifices which have thus 
been made for the sake of Christ and the perishing heathen.] 

In the burning heat of an African sun, 

One sultry Summer day, 
I wearily walked at the hour of noon, 
Almost wishing my work on earth were done, 
Till I thought of the love of God's own Son 

When he left his heavenly home. 

The sun was hot — but what mattered that? 

There was work which must be done: 
There were dying men to be visited, 
And those who were mourning their buried dead; 
Others whose hearts I could make glad 

If I told of a heavenly home. 

On that day, from a region wild and lone, 

An African chief had come; 
There the Word of life had never gone, 
And he prayed that we would send him one 






SELECT READINGS. 53 

To tell him of Christ — but there was none 
To go to that heathen home. 

My frame was weary, and deep my sleep 
When the hour of rest came on; 

I slept, but I only slept to weep, 

To suffer anguish, great and deep, 

Like those who their watch with the dying keep; 
And, sleeping, I dreamed of home. 

I dreamed that I stood on a distant hill, 

And hundreds were thronging round, 
Calling for teachers, calling until 
They besought with tears, and urging still, 
Both chiefs and people. They said, "You will 
Go for us to your distant home. 

In your happy land both joy and light 

To all the people come: 
They know no darkness of heathen night; 
Many might come to bring us light, 
Many to teach us of good and right." 

And, dreaming, I hastened home. 

The pain and weariness passed away 
When I readied a Christian land: 

I could not rest, I could not stay; 

I cared not how far my journey lay; 

I must find help, and, without delay, 
Go back to my African home. 



54 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

I stood in a temple, large and wide, 

Filled with the wise and good; 
I told of our country beyond the tide, 
Told of the heathen on every side, 
How they gathered to us from far and wide; 

I told of this at home — 

In that Christian land, and to Christian men, 

Who professed to love the Lord 
Who died for them — even God's dearest Son; 
Their answer was, "It is true, but then 

There's enough to do at home!" 

Next I stood where assembled only were 

God's ministers, great and wise; 
I told of these voices that called from far, 
Of our strength worn out in our daily care, 
And entreated, "Oh come to our help— come there!" 
But they answered calmly, without a tear, 

"There's enough to do at home!" 

Deep agony then convulsed my frame 

As I thought of going alone 
To tell the heathen, for whom I came, 
They must die, not knowing of Jesus' name, 
/For Christians could not see their claim, 

With "so much to do at home!" 

Then I passed through that country near and far, 
Through cities, and villages green ; 



SELECT READINGS. 55 

I appealed to strong men, to maidens fair, 
To the young, to the old with whitened hair— 
"Oh send! Oh come!" But all said, "Not there; 
There's enough to do at home. 

We give our money, and some there are 

Who perchance might go away; 
But what are you doing? How came you here? 
There is work in our land, both far and near; 
'Tis not that we care not, not that we fear, 

But — there's so much to do at home." 

Deep agony then my soul o'erthrew 

As I waked from that awful dream — 

Waked, Oh so sadly, — for well I knew 

That, though but a dream, alas! 'tis true; 

None will come; all say, not the few, 
"There's enough to do at home." 

Oh say, can you wonder, in that far land, 
At the words of those heathen men 

With which my heart is ever pained? 

At the stigma with which your names are stained? 

They say you are "selfish," and can they be blamed, 
Though "there's enough to do at home?" 

They say, "In the home beyond the sea 

The hearts must be hard and cold, 
For they give us no light; how else can it be? 
They enter heaven — but, Oh! not we 



56 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

Who are here! We never that land shall see; 
Only they have a heavenly home." 

Thus they long for truth and beg for light 

In that heathen land who roam; 
They have heard, mayhap, of a heaven bright, 
But say you have closed its door so tight 
You have doomed them to darkness and endless 
night 

Because of the work at home. 

And Oh! when they in God's presence stand 

With you, at that great day, 
When every nation of every land 

To judgment is called away, 
Say, say, can you stand in God's presence then, 

And remember that cry, "Oh come, 
We are dying — we know no Savior's name!" 
Can you plead the excuse? will it not be in vain? 
Will it weigh with God, though it did with men — 

"There's enough to do at home!" 

15. CHINESE CHAKACTER, 
The people of China have a very peculiar 
temperament. Their stolidity is something won- 
derful. Probably no other nation in the world 
possesses so little enthusiasm. They seem utterly 
insensible to many of the finer feelings of human 



SELECT READINGS. 57 

nature. They can gaze unmoved upon the most 
appalling scenes of wretchedness, and they endure 
the intensest sufferings with stoical indifference. 
Death itself is looked upon in much the same 
light with which we may suppose the lower ani- 
mals regard it. The criminal who is sentenced 
to have his head chopped off, the executioner 
who performs the bloody act, and the idle specta- 
tors who happen to be standing by, are alike in- 
sensible to the solemnity of the occasion. 

Still more striking is the insensibility which the 
Chinese display for moral principle. Filial obedi- 
ence is their highest notion of piety. Take this 
out of their code of morals and they are as de- 
praved in mind and heart as it is, perhaps, possi- 
ble to imagine. While crime is liable to be pun- 
ished, and in the most cruel manner, no feeling 
of shame or disgrace deters the criminal from a 
repetition of the act. The thief, who promenades 
the public street with the cangue, or movable 
pillory, around his neck, attracts no more atten- 
tion than the fish-monger or burden bearer; nor 
has he apparently any less anxiety to be seen. 
All classes, from the humblest beggar to the offi- 
cial mandarins, are alike lost to a sense of truth 
and honor. No one can show a greater aptitude 
for concocting falsehoods, or utter them with 
more unblushing effrontery, than a Chinaman. The 



5 8 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

ruling passion in the hearts of all is the love of 
money. Nothing will secure a Chinaman's atten- 
tion more quickly, or light up his countenance 
with a more radiant glow, than the mention of 
cash. For the sake of cash he will cheerfully do 
the very meanest offices for you; for the sake of 
cash he will readily sacrifice truth, honor, and all 
the other virtues. If he has been detected in 
stealing any thing from you, rather than confess 
his fault and make amends, he will submit to 
have double the value squeezed out of him by 
the magistrate, and to receive a flogging besides. 
To this lack of moral principle, which is so 
painfully evident in the Chinese character, Ave 
must add their deep-rooted prejudices against all 
foreigners and foreign innovations. The Chinese 
have a wonderfully exalted opinion of their own 
learning and civilization. Their country is the 
finest in the world; their emperor the most majes- 
tic personage under heaven. In the whole range 
of their literature, extensive as it is, there is noth- 
ing to disabuse their minds of the idea that their 
nation is immeasurably superior to every other 
nation in the world. Those of their literati who 
have not been brought into contact with foreign- 
ers, know as little of the history, the arts, and 
sciences of other countries as the beggar on the 
street. And, while an overweening opinion of 



SELECT READINGS. 59 

their own superiority leads them to regard all 
other nations with contempt, the supercilious con- 
duct of foreigners in too many instances serves 
to confirm their prejudices. A foreigner who has 
a Chinaman in his employ, frequently treats him 
more like a slave or a dog than a human being. 
Two things alone reconcile the native to the in- 
dignities he suffers, the natural stolidity of his 
character, and the liberal supply of cash which he 
receives as wages. The latter is a mantle that 
covers a multitude of personal abuses. 



16. CASTE OF ITOIA. 
The caste of India is the iron framework into 
which the Brahminical polity forced that ancient 
people. Long and arduous was the struggle be- 
fore success crowned it; but once obtained it was 
never lost Its overthrow has been attempted 
both by arms and by argument. The assault 
made upon it by Buddha is older than the Chris- 
tian era. This heathen protestant aimed an extir- 
pating blow at all the superstitious ceremonies of 
the hierarchy. His new system spread like the 
waters of the deluge : but, having atheism for its 
underlying principle, it failed to maintain the tri- 
umph it won, and the power of the Brahma has 



60 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

since been in the ascendant. But, friends, will 
you not recognize the tenacity of caste for life 
also in its utter defiance of the triumphal invader? 
If Mohammedan sovereignty for eight centuries 
was unable to shake this system, what must be its 
hold on the nations ! We concede that Islamism 
is wanting in regenerating energy; that, if it has 
an element of strength in maintaining that God is 
one, it has a neutralizing element of weakness in 
alleging Mohammed is God's prophet; but, if it 
were unable to link the ancient civilization on to 
the modern, if it had no skill in rejuvenating and 
reconstructing, it was armed with mighty power 
for destruction. Still, the system of caste bore up 
against its desolating ravages. India was a great 
battle field, on which conflicts were incessant be- 
tween its old proprietors, its new masters, and the 
wild tribes on its borders. The last great Islam 
invasion — fourteenth century — made by Tamer- 
lane, overbore and crushed all before it, except- 
ing caste. This remained in all its strength. 
This it withstood as it had done all other shocks 
of twenty centuries. . . . England and all 
conquerors of India found in this mysterious in- 
stitution of caste what they had found in nothing 
else. They could conquer the arms of India, 
but not the caste of India. That peninsula had 
bowed to more conquerors than history had 



SELECT READINGS. 6l 

chronicled, to more invasions and revolutions 
than would have swept away any other civiliza- 
tion ever established by man. But, in spite of 
all these desolating hurricanes, caste has kept its 
place. Defiant as the everlasting mountains, it 
stands unimpaired. The many centuries which 
have contributed to the consolidation of that sys- 
tem, the unmeasurable power of those agencies 
which have failed to subvert it, the manhood 
vigor it retains after the battle of thirty centuries, 
all prove its impregnable strength. 

DR. DEMPSTER. 



17. CHILDREN'S WORK Iff MISSIONS, 

[select reading for a lady teacher.] 

Since woman's work in missions has become 
a recognized necessity, and found response in so 
many hearts anxious for the Master's service, the 
thoughtful mind, looking into the future, has 
asked, Who shall carry on this work, when the 
ranks now forming shall have been thinned by 
death? Can not our children be educated in re- 
gard to missions to such an extent that prelimi- 
nary drill and training, before understanding their 
actual work, may be avoided? Can they not by 
judicious education grow up into the ranks, their 
service overlapping that of their mothers, so that 



62 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

there may be no interruption of plans, no flag- 
ging in the aggressive movements of our mission- 
band? The answer to these questions must be 
found with the mothers now interested in the 
work. It is for us to devise ways and carry out 
plans that will permanently interest the children 
of our families and Churches. What nobler 
work, or more inspiring task! How impressible 
the character of a child in the mother's hands, to 
mold for all good influences, all high and holy 
ambitions ! My dear sisters, let us pray the chil- 
dren's Savior for his benediction upon a work so 
nearly akin to his own. Let us feel assured that 
the ministry of childhood is peculiarly acceptable 
to Him, who, w T hile on earth, gave such marked 
and repeated proofs of his love for the little ones, 
and whose saddened spirit was cheered by their 
sweet hosannas. He uses a little child as a fit- 
ting illustration of the state of those who hope*to 
be called by his name, or enter into his kingdom. 
The missionary work of children is largely 
that of learners; they, or we, will not be inter- 
ested in what we know nothing about. The im- 
moral tendencies of street life lie mainly in the 
fact that the child becomes so familiarized with 
evil, that it clings to him almost beyond counter- 
action. To fill our children's mind with what we 
desire them to know, to stimulate them by the 



SELECT READINGS. 63 

history of noble examples such as we would have 
them to be, to develop such manhood and woman- 
hood as God will delight to honor, is our first 
and peculiarly our home work. We must teach 
them the command of God, — to carry the Gospel 
to the heathen. We must show them that the 
blessings received from the religion of Christ im- 
pose upon them high and sacred obligation to 
give the knowledge of our Savior to those in 
darkness. They must be shown the contrast in 
their temporal and spiritual condition with that of 
heathen children, many of whom are destroyed in 
infancy, or live to endure a fate worse than death. 
Particularly must the daughters of this land be 
shown their obligation to their heathen sisters, 
many of whom, from birth to death, are slaves to 
the caprice of others. 

To further this part of the children's work, 
every Christian family should have a regular mu- 
tual reading of some inspiring missionary life. 
Let the family sit together on a Sabbath after- 
noon, and one of the children read aloud the his- 
tory of some missionary or mission. Reading in 
this way for months will not only inform them of 
the principal facts of our missions, but create a 
taste that will be the foundation of their own 
reading in after years. Who of us can not trace 
much of our own interest to the Sunday after- 



64 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

noon readings of long ago, when the marvelous 
story of Ann EL Judson and the sainted Board- 
man formed the theme of discourse through many 
a twilight hour. We can but think the right arm 
of our strength lies in the reform of our children's 
reading. Missionary biographies are almost ban- 
ished from our Sunday-school libraries, or, if 
found on the list, stand on the librarian's shelves 
unsoiled, while the more flippant stories, in which 
the wholesome dose of instruction is so sweetened, 
find eager readers. Home influence must correct 
this morbid appetite, and furnish stronger thoughts 
for children, till a healthier moral tone is estab- 
lished, and they from choice seek worthier books. 
When their young hearts are enlisted in the 
sufferings of heathen children, then will come the 
natural impulse to help; and giving will be a 
privilege, not merely a duty. Let the magnitude 
of the object be fully understood by them, and an 
intelligent and willing response will be received. 

MRS. C VAN HUSEN. 



18. MISSIONARY POTATOES. 

A little boy named Harry was looking very 
thoughtful one day, when he suddenly said to his 
mother, 

' ' Ought I not to be up and doing something, 



SELECT READINGS. 65 

mother, for the poor heathen? Am I not old 
enough to preach ? I do not mean pulpit preach- 
ing." 

"I should think not," said the mother, smil- 
ing. "But what kind of preaching, then, do 
you mean, my boy?" 

"Mine must be spade preaching, mother." 

"Spade preaching!" echoed Sister Lottie. 

"Yes, said Harry. "Did not some of the 
school boys dig, plant, and sell? and can not I 
dig my missionary money out of the ground?" 

"Well, suppose you ask father if he will let 
you have a piece of garden ground," said the 
mother. 

When father came home, his little boy urged 
his plea for a piece of "missionary ground;" and 
very cheerfully was it granted; and some good 
potatoes for "seed" were also added. 

Harry was very diligent in digging, setting, 
watering, and weeding; and by the Summer a 
fine crop of potatoes rewarded his toil. Lottie 
had the pleasure of helping to gather up the po- 
tatoes, and send them off to the market. 

In the missionary report for the next year the 
interesting item might be seen of "missionary po- 
tatoes," with a few shillings attached. May not 
other little boys and girls go and do likewise ? 

In some parishes of Yorkshire and Lincoln- 
5 



66 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

shire, where the people are deeply interested in 
the cause of missions, it is not unusual for parents 
to encourage their children to raise funds, not 
only by spade work, but by means of fruit-trees, 
cows, sheep, and poultry. The best cherry-tree 
in some orchards is the "missionary tree;" and 
the blossoms and fruitage of that tree are watched 
with special interest by both parents and children. 
Even in some of the poor parts of Ireland, contri- 
butions have been raised by means of "missionary 
hens." 



19. INDIVIDUAL RESPONSIBILITY. 

The command of Christ makes it the duty of 
every Christian to labor for the conversion of 
the world. 

Individual Christians, united in sympathy and 
effort, constitute the Church, divinely commis- 
sioned to publish the Gospel, beautiful in its order, 
mighty in its influence. 

While the Word of God and conscience press 
upon man his duty, the human heart often seeks 
to evade it by saying, "This can not be my work; 
it is the duty of the Church to attend to this. It 
is a vast undertaking, to which individual effort 
is inadequate. Were the energies of Christendom 
engaged in it, it might be done; but how can one 






SELECT READINGS. 67 

man enter upon the duties of a whole community, 
and expect to accomplish any thing? I will wait 
till the Church awakes to her responsibility, and 
then I will take hold with her." 

Now, in all such reasonings there is a latent 
fallacy. The words "society," "the Church," 
are so taken as to be deceptive. To those using 
them, to relieve themselves of responsibility, it 
might be said, It is easy to talk about the work 
society should do; but where can you find soci- 
ety to bring duty to bear directly home upon it? 
Has society a heart to feel, hands to work, money 
to contribute? How can the Church of herself 
do any thing? Apart from her individual mem- 
bers, she has no head to plan, hands to act, or 
lips to speak; she never did any thing; she never 
can do any thing. 

When you speak of the duties of society, if 
you mean any thing more than your duties and 
mine as members of society; when you say that 
the Church should do this or that, if you mean 
any thing more than that you and I as members 
of the Church should take hold and do this very 
thing, — you are using words without meaning. 
Take away individual responsibility, and public 
responsibility is all a phantom. Leave out indi- 
viduals from society and the Church, and you 
have no society, you have no Church. You are 



68 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

casting off responsibility upon an ideal, soulless, 
voiceless abstraction, and others have as good a 
right to do so as you; and, if all do thus, when 
will any thing be done? 

To the assertion that the exertions of individ- 
uals are unequal to any great undertaking, it may 
be replied, Look over the history of the world, 
and see how any thing has ever been accom- 
plished for the glory of God and the good of 
man but by these. Has it not been that, as one 
man felt his heart stirred by enthusiasm in some 
great cause, he has commenced to talk about it 
to others, thus enlisting their sympathies and 
awakening their energies in its behalf, and thus 
his life has kindled life in others, his zeal has in- 
spired the zeal of others, and, as he labored, a 
host constantly increasing in numbers gathered 
around him, and labored with him, and thus the 
work has been done ? 

There is no other energy but this among men 
that pushes on the chariot wheels of the world's 
progress, and hastens the triumph of the king- 
dom of the Lord. If instead of lamenting the 
supineness of the Church, and waiting listlessly 
for the time when she shall recognize her true 
mission, and gird herself to its performance, each 
member of the Church who had a message 
uttered it, and each hand that held a gift offered 



SELECT READINGS. 69 

it, and each heart that burned communicated its 
glowing thoughts; if each light that has been kept 
hid because it was so feeble was brought out, and 
placed on its candlestick, where it belongs ; if 
individual action was roused, and individual en- 
ergy was put forth, then would the Church stand 
forth beautiful in her girded robes, and with her 
burning lamps ; then would the might of her Lord 
be with her, and the work of the Lord would 
prosper at her hands. 

At the judgment day neither society nor the 
Church will be called to account, but every one 
of us for himself shall give account for the deeds 
done in the body; every one of us shall be ac- 
quitted or condemned as we have been individ- 
ually faithful or recreant to our commission from 
our Lord. — Foreign Missionary. 

20. THE TRUE TEST. 
Christian friends ! we have no fires of mar- 
tyrdom now to test our fidelity to Jesus Christ; 
but we are not left without a test. God is testing 
us all continually; testing the measure of our 
faith, of our love, of our devotedness to his Son, by 
the presence of eight hundred millions of heathen in 
the world. It is a tremendous test! so real, so 
practical ! 



70 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

It is no trifle, no myth, no theory, no doubtful 
contingency, but a great, awful fact, that we Prot- 
estant Christians, who rejoice in our rich Gospel 
blessings, and claim to be followers of him who 
gave up heavenly glory, earthly ease, and life 
itself, to save these heathen, are actually sur- 
rounded by eight hundred millions of brothers 
and sisters who must perish in their sins, unless 
they receive the Gospel. This Gospel they have 
never yet heard! This is a* fact too many forget, 
but a fact none can deny; a fact of which we 
dare not pretend to be ignorant; a fact that 
ought to influence our whole Christian course 
from the moment of conversion; a fact that 
ought to shape our plans and prospects and pur- 
poses in life. 

// tests our faith. Do we believe that "idola- 
ters shall have their part in the lake which burn- 
etii with fire and brimstone — the second death ?" 
Do we believe that "the Gospel is the power of 
God to salvation ?" Where, then, are the works 
wrought in us by our faith in these truths? What 
do we to turn idolaters to the worship of the true 
and living God? What do we to carry them the 
Gospel which can save them? 

// tests our love. "If ye love me, keep my 
commandments," said our Master: and his hist 
command was, that we should preach the Gospel 



SELECT READINGS. 71 

to these heathen. Judged by our obedience to U % 

how much do we love him? And how much do 

we love these poor neighbors, stripped and robbed 
and cruelly handled by the devil, and left half- 
dead in our path? What oil and wine have we 
poured into their wounds? What efforts for their 
recovery have we made-? We OUght to love 
each one as ourselves. Has the aggregate of our 
love for the whole eight hundred millions of 
unsaved heathen ever led us to endure a single 
suffering, or to deny ourselves a single indul- 
gence, for their sake? 

It tests our devotedness. Hearts wholly given to 
Jesus would lead us to long that his wishes should 
be gratified, his desires fulfilled. What are those 
wishes and desires? Let his life, his death, re- 
ply, that all should return, repent, and. live; 
that the lost should be found, and the dead quick- 
ened. If, knowing that eight hundred millions of 
our fellow-creatures are still lost in heathenism, 
we make no effort for their enlightenment, how 
do we show our devoted attachment to Jesus 
Christ our Lord? We devoted to him! What, 
even of ours, is devoted to him? Js even a tithe 
of our time, a tithe of our substance, devoted to 
him? Have we surrendered to him for this serv- 
ven one child of our family, or one year of 
our lives? No! but we give an annual subsorip- 



72 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

tion to some missionary society. Ah, friends, 
gifts that cost us no personal self-denial are no proofs 
of devotedness! Christ's devotedness to our inter- 
ests involved him in suffering, loss, and shame, 
because of the state in which we were; though 
hereafter devotedness to us will involve to him 
only joy, "the joy set before him." 

Devotedness to him now must similarly involve 
suffering, loss, and shame to us, because of the 
state of those for whom he died; hereafter it will 
involve only joy and honor, the bride's share of 
her royal Bridegroom's throne. But that time is 
not yet! Devotedness, consecration to Jesus, in 
a world tenanted by eight hundred millions of 
heathen, means stem labor and toil, means constant 
self-denial and self sacrifice, means unwearied well-do- 
ing even unto death. 

Judged by this test, how many faithful, loving, 
and devoted followers has Jesus Christ? Are we 
of their number? — Baptist Missionary Magazine. 



21. THE TEMPLES OF JAPAN, 
The temples of Japan are massive structures; 
some of them four hundred and fifty feet long, 
and half as wide, and supported by one hundred 
and twenty hiaki pillars — a wood almost as hard 
as lignum vitae, and capable of a high polish. 



SELECT READINGS. 73 

These pillars are thirty feet high, and two and a 
half in diameter. 

In all of these temples is found at least one' 
large image of Buddha, more than life size, and 
always seated upon the lotus-flower, which is king 
among all flowers, having a superb blossom six 
inches in diameter, of wondrous fragrance, and 
used as a religious emblem. The temples occupy 
large grounds, filled with beautiful groves and 
rustic gardens, surrounded by walls in which some 
of the stones are twenty feet square. 

We visited Yeddo during a festival season, 
when an attempt was being made to revive the 
interest of the people in an idolatrous religion, 
and renew faith in the drooping cause of Buddha. 
For the people have lost heart and faith in idols, 
and are asking for the true God to reign over 
them. The streets were gay and festive, drums 
beating, and thousands of flags flying. Booths 
lined the roads, containing fancy articles and toys 
beautiful enough to make the children wild with 
delight; yes, and their elders, too. The temples 
were all open, and we visited many. One ex- 
ceeded in splendor any thing of which we had 
ever heard, except "Solomon's Temple. " The 
gates and walls, the tiles of the roof, even, were 
covered with gilding. First, an elaborate gate- 
way of bronze, representing almost every kind of 



74 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

beast, bird, and flower. Then a large in closure, 
filled with bronze pedestals and carved animals. 
Beyond, a temple arch of choicest wood, skillfully 
carved, and decorated with precious stones. The 
walk for a long distance was covered with pure, 
white matting, bound with heavy silk. We were 
told that we could enter if we would remove our 
shoes; so we gladly complied with the custom, 
and entered in stocking feet. Within, the walls 
and ceiling were covered with gold-broidered tap- 
estries, or beautiful pictures. Candles were burn- 
ing before all the images, and the many worship- 
ers coming and going and praying aloud, added 
to the impressive scene. Indeed, it seemed but 
fitting that we should walk unshod, so awe-inspir- 
ing was the grandeur of the place. 

Here we saw garments that the gods had 
worn, many of them made of solid gold! And 
here we found the image of the great god Diabuts. 
It is fifty feet high, and the same across the 
shoulders. The circumference of the pedestal on 
which it rests is ninety-eight feet. Its face is 
eight and a half feet long, and nearly as wide; 
ears, seven feet long: nose, four feet; mouth, 
three feet; and each thumb the same. This hid 
eous monster is hollow, and contains many small 
images. 

This temple is said to contain thirty-three 






SELECT READINGS. 75 

thousand three hundred and thirty-three gods! 
Legend says that eight hundred years ago the 
mikado — who was the emperor and head of the 
Church — had a headache, and was told in a 
dream that if he would build a temple with that 
number of gods in it, his pain should be cured; 
and this is the result. There are, however, by 
actual count, only fifteen thousand in the build- 
ing; enough, we should think, to appease the 
most vindictive of the gods. There are one 
thousand life-size images of Buddha, carved out 
of wood, and covered with gold leaf, all standing 
on the lotus-flower. On each of these heads is a 
circular diadem, on which stand twelve small 
images. Then on each of the numerous hands, 
which extend from each of the large images, are 
two small ones. On this plan the large number 
is obtained. Besides these, on a raised platform 
in the center, twenty-four gods represent the sea- 
sons, passions, graces, etc. This imposing temple 
used to be visited by crowds of people, seeking 
favor from the gods, but now they are almost 
forsaken. In Kobe — the stronghold of mission- 
ary labor — the American chapels are crowded 
with eager listeners. In Kioto — the stronghold 
of Buddhism, public Christian worship is forbid- 
den, but the Japanese by twos and threes, fives 
and tens, find their way into the American school- 



76 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

room, and the missionary's "own hired house" at 
morning and evening worship, and look as if 
listening for life. Is it not a sight to move the 
heart? Here, in this vast city of over a half a 
million inhabitants, where there are six thousand 
heathen temples, there is yet no house for the 
Lord of Hosts, and yet the hungry Japanese wait 
for the Bread of Life. While the sad minor 
tones of the vesper bells issue from a hundred 
temples, and again when matins are ringing dur- 
ing the last hours of night, the anxious groups 
assail our doors, to be taught in the harmony of 
the Gospels and Bible history. 

HELEN H. S. THOMPSON. 



22. "NO APPEAL FOR FOREIGN MISSIONS." 
We heard, not long ago, the remark, made by 
a lady, that she had not heard, in the church she 
attended, an appeal for foreign missions since she 
was a child. 

In that church many had grown up, who, like 
herself, had been children; and others had come 
into the same organization from without, and all 
needed instruction on this very subject; and yet 
he who was set over them to instruct them in 
duty, as well as in doctrine, had never touched 



SELECT READINGS. 77 

upon the wants of a dying world, or the binding 
force of the Savior's last command. No informa- 
tion imparted when a collection was. taken up, 
no monthly concert held, no burning words as to 
obligation, and no earnest desire to bring the 
hearts of his hearers into sympathy with the great 
object for which Christ reigns. 

If such neglect is not general, it is not so rare 
as some suppose, or there would not be so many 
meager contributions in churches for the evan- 
gelization of pagandom, or so many omissions of 
the collection for foreign missions. 

We know a presbytery that had committees 
for some nine different benevolent objects, but 
not one for foreign missions. No wonder that 
few, very few, of that presbytery, did any thing 
for a dying world! 

Before our Savior left the earth, he gave two 
commands to his people — one in which is em- 
bodied his love for them, a^id the other in which 
is to be embodied their love for him. Both were 
uttered under solemn circumstances, with a defi- 
nite purpose, and for great and important results. 
One is no more sacred or binding than the other. 
If the one points to his death, the other tells of 
his resurrection and of a completed sacrifice. If 
the one points to his second coming, the other 
declares that he can not come until his Gospel 



78 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

has been every-where proclaimed. If in the one 
is wrapped up his great atoning work, the other 
carries in it the fact of its application, yea, the 
destiny of the world. Now, for the proper ob- 
servance of the one command, what preparation, 
what interest, and what cheering* recognition of 
the fact? How duty and obligation are intwined! 
how emotion and affection are aroused! how 
Christ's love and work are portrayed! But for 
the other? At times, nothing said, and, what is 
worse, nothing done. No recognition of its 
claims, no setting forth of the mighty issues 
involved in it to Christ himself, and to a perish- 
ing world, no preparing the people by previous 
instruction for its faithful obedience, no exhibi- 
tion of responsibility, and, to affect the heart 
and draw out its sympathies, no portrayal of 
a world's wretchedness and of men dying in 
their guilt. 

Now, in the Church where the incident men- 
tioned at the commencement of this article oc- 
curred, and in others like it, we have Christ's 
law in the one command, but no notice of it in 
the other; Christ's actions in the one behest, but 
none in the other; Christ's sufferings in the one, 
but no sufferings of our guilty race in the other; 
the remembrance of Christ in the one, but none 
in the other; the issues of his cross in the one 



SELECT READINGS. 79 

case, but no glories of his crown in the other; 
the travail of his soul in the one, but no effort 
to bring them to him by the other. Oh! is this 
right? Is this honoring to Jesus? Is it com- 
mending his truth to others? Is it showing the 
force of his authority, and the power which obli- 
gations should exert? If not, and no man can 
say it is, it is surely time to read personal obliga- 
tion more fully, to hear Christ's voice more 
authoritatively, and to see his suffering ones with 
more pity, and with an immediate desire to bring 
them to his fold and to the arms of his love. — 
Foreign Missionary. 



23. CHINESE CONTEASTS. 
One strange thing which impresses every vis- 
itor in China is the fact that so many customs 
seem the reverse of our own. The polite China- 
man, in shaking hands, grasps not yours, but his 
own. With us black is the color for mourning, 
but he uses white. We read our books from left to 
right; his are read from right to left. In China you 
will find men in the kitchen, in the laundry, and 
in the millinery and dress-making shops, while 
women row the boats from place to place along the 
river. In our country the murderer takes venge- 
ance by smiting down his enemy, but the enraged 



80 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

Chinaman takes his sweetest revenge by killing 
himself; he does this because he knows that his 
foe will be more in fear from his disembodied 
spirit than of any harm from his bodily presence. 
At home kite-flying is the amusement of boys, 
but here men play with kites, while boys gravely 
observe their success. You may see women 
smoking cigars, and a military officer with a 
string of beads around his neck and a fan in his 
hand. We show our respect by taking off the 
hat; a Chinaman for the same reason keeps his 
on. In our schools a boy may not even whisper, 
but here all the boys in school are shouting their 
reading-lessons at the top of their voices. 

Perhaps we ought to expect the Chinaman to 
differ from us in every thing, as their country is 
on the opposite side of the globe, and their 
whole life, of course, is upside down. We have 
seen some strange contrasts here between the re- 
ligion of the Chinese and that blessed truth which 
our missionaries are trying to teach them. 

F. F. ELLINWOOD. 



24. THE MISSIONARY BOX. 
I suppose every boy and girl has had a 
"bank." Perhaps it was only a little wooden 
box with a hole in the top, the size of a penny; 



SELECT READINGS. 8 1 

or may be it was a tin house with doors that 
never opened and windows that were always 
shut, and all the pennies were made to tumble 
down a little red chimney. 

We have a little box in the mission rooms 
which represents a bright little negro boy kneel- 
ing on the ground with his hat placed in front of 
him. With his black hands folded before him, 
he seems to look at you and tell you that he is 
an African sent to beg for the mission. We call 
him "Cuffee." He is a polite little fellow, and 
every time you drop a penny in his hat he makes 
a bow, and if you put in any thing heavier than 
a penny, down bobs his little wooden head until 
it touches his hands. The secret of it is that 
his hat has a hole in the bottom of it, and every 
penny that falls through hits a spring that makes 
him bow. These money boxes are found among 
the boys and girls of nearly every nation in the 
world. They have them in India, and I have 
seen the school boys in China carrying little jars 
with a hole in the top for the cash to fall through. 
If at any time they wanted to use the money 
they had to break the jar. But these children 
saved their cash mostly for fire-crackers and other 
things to be used at New Year's time in worship- 
ing idols and false gods. 

If these poor heathen children would do so 
6 



82 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

much to please an idol of wood or stone, who 
never did them any good, how much more 
should we be willing to do for Jesus. Every 
boy and girl might have a missionary box, and 
every penny put into it would help to send the 
Gospel to these people in far away heathen 
lands. 



25. RESULT OF SEVENTY-FIVE TEARS' TOIL. 
But six missionary societies were organized 
before the year 1800. Hence, nearly all that has 
been done in the evangelization of the heathen 
has been accomplished in the last seventy-five 
years. Heroic men planted the Gospel seed in 
the dark places of the earth, and watered it with 
their tears. Long nights of watchfulness and 
prayer passed away before they saw the germ of 
life, but it did come. And though they went 
forth weeping, bearing the precious seed, now 
they begin to return rejoicing, bringing their 
sheaves with them. Now, Greenland's hardy 
sons rejoice in their redemption; India has 
awakened to a new life — her old fossil forms of 
superstition are giving way to the Gospel of 
peace; Africa's sable sons are beginning to rejoice 
in the light of the Sun of Righteousness; Ceylon's 
isle has thrown away her gods of wood and 



SELECT READINGS. 83 

stone, and has turned to the Son of God; hun- 
dreds of the gems of the Pacific now sparkle in 
the Messiah's crown, and so in China and Japan 
Gospel truth is taking hold of the public mind. 
Syria, Mesopotamia, Persia, and Palestine rejoice 
in many schools and Christian Churches. The 
Ottoman Empire rejoices in religious toleration; 
and South America, with here and there a Prot- 
estant Church, rejoices in political freedom and 
religious toleration. Thus, in the nineteenth cen- 
tury, nearly the whole globe has, in the provi- 
dence of God, become an open field for Christian 
effort. Thousands are now rejoicing that the 
bonds of their heathenism have been broken off, 
that the shackles of their superstition have been 
knocked off by the hammer of truth, and their 
souls purified by that blood which speaketh better 
things than the blood of Abel? 

DR. S. T. ANDERSON. 



26. OUR WORK IS CHUT A. 
There are many things to discourage mission- 
ary labor in China. The people are a strangely 
stolid and impassive race, whose hearts are hard 
to touch. With the utmost indifference they can 
gaze on scenes of misery and wretchedness, which 
would affect others with feelings of pity and horror. 



84 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

Add to this the inveteracy of their national prej- 
udices, and the tenacity with which they cling to 
the religious tenets of their philosophers, and we 
have a most strange combination of forces arrayed 
against the influences of the Christian religion. 

Nor are the prejudices of this people altogether 
unfounded. While Europe dates the rise and 
wonderful progress of its civilization from a period 
only a few centuries back, beyond which all was 
enshrouded in mental darkness, China can boast 
of no ordinary degree of intellectual vigor and 
scientific attainment, extending through more than 
nineteen hundred years. While the civilization 
of Greece and Rome has long since perished, 
and the philosophy of their world-renowned sages 
has been for centuries a dead letter, the Chinese 
have steadily retained all their acquirements, if 
not advancing at least not retarding; and the doc- 
trines of their philosophers are as widely known 
and venerated among the people to-day as they 
ever were before. Nor have they any reason to 
be ashamed of their philosophy. From the teach- 
ings of Confucius and Mencius may be derived a 
system of ethics more perfect, perhaps, than any 
other given to man outside of the Bible. If 
Mohammedans cling to the Koran, with all its 
silly fables and precepts subversive of true moral- 
ity, need we wonder that the Chinese adhere with 



SELECT READINGS. 85 

at least equal tenacity to the venerated doctrines 
of men who taught comparatively little that is con- 
trary to what is revealed in the New Testament? 
But, notwithstanding the citizens of the middle 
kingdom may refer with no small share of pride 
to the degree of mental illumination they have 
possessed for ages, yet the fact that they have en- 
joyed this privilege without making any perceptible 
advancement for a thousand years and more, indi- 
cates that they have never found the secret of 
progressive power. In the history of this country 
we have a striking proof that the most sublime 
philosophy, however deeply loved and venerated, 
is incapable in itself of elevating a people above 
a certain standard. Had not the civilization 
of Europe been aided by the stimulating influences 
of Christianity, it would never have attained a 
higher state of development than that of Greece 
and Rome. And it is the lack of the vitalizing 
energy of the religion of Jesus Christ that has 
caused the moral and intellectual state of the Chi- 
nese to be at a stand still for so long a period. 

REV. A, STRITTMATER. 



27. THE SYSTEM OF BUDDHA. 
Much has been written and published on the 
religious system called Buddhism. In the follow- 



86 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

ing, we have it all in a nutshell. We select from 
a late number of The Friend of India: 

" Mr. Robson thus concisely analyzes the relig- 
ious views taught by Sakya Moonie, whose influ- 
ence on Oriental systems of thought has been so 
great that it is of the highest importance to realize 
what he desired his followers to believe and do. 

"The teaching of Buddha may be divided into 
two parts — doctrinal and practical. The former 
consists of what is known as the 'Law of the 
Wheel/ or the four great verities which he dis- 
covered under the mimosa-tree. These are, 

"r. Suffering exists wherever animated being 
exists. 

"2. The cause of suffering is desire, that is, a 
craving for what is only a temporary illusion. 

"3. Deliverance from suffering can be effected 
only by deliverance from desire, or by attaining 
Nirvana. 

"4. Nirvana can be attained only by following 
the method of Buddha. 

"The method included in the fourth verity 
consists of eight paths leading to Nirvana. Of 
these the first four applicable to all are: first, 
right vision or faith (cf. Matt, vi, 22); second, 
right judgment or thoughts; third, right language; 
fourth, right actions. This is a simple enough 
statement that Buddha's disciples must have the 



SELECT READINGS. 87 

right faith, and seek to be perfect in thought, 
word, and deed. The remaining four paths are 
applicable especially to the priesthood, and show 
the influence of his false conception of man's 
end, or Nirvana. They are: fifth, right means of 
livelihood, or the profession of a recluse; sixth, 
right application of the spirit to the study of the 
law; seventh, right memory, or freedom from 
error in recollecting the law: eighth, right medi- 
tation, which conducts the intelligence to a quiet- 
ude nearly approaching Nirvana. 

" The practical part of his system has the same 
double aspect both in its negative and positive 
injunctions. The negative part has five command- 
ments binding on all: first, not to kill (extending 
even to animal life) ; second, not to steal ; third, 
not to commit adultery; fourth, not to lie (this 
extends to the using of improper language) ; fifth, 
not to use strong drink; and five binding especi- 
ally on priests : first, not to take repasts at im- 
proper times; second, not to look at dances and 
plays; third, not to have costly raiment, perfumes, 
etc. ; fourth, not to have a large bed or quilt; 
fifth, not to receive gold or silver. 

"The positive part of the moral law consists 
in enjoining six virtues on all — charity, purity, 
patience, courage, contemplation, science. Of 
these the first, charity, is the most important, and 



88 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

includes caring not only for man, but also for all 
animate beings down to the smallest insect. 
Twelve observances are further enjoined on re- 
cluses : first, to use clothes made only of old rags 
picked up in the burying-grounds, or on the road; 
second, to have only three such coats, all sewn 
by the wearer's hands; third, to have a cloak of 
yellow wool to cover all, prepared in the same 
way ; fourth to live only on food given in charity 
and without asking; fifth, to take only one meal 
daily; sixth, never to eat or drink after mid-day; 
seventh, to live in the forest or jungle ; eighth, to 
have no roof but the foliage of the trees; ninth, 
to sit with the back supported by the trunk of 
the tree; tenth, to sleep sitting, and not lying; 
eleventh, never to change the position of the car- 
pet or quilt when it has once been spread; twelfth, 
to go once a month to burying or burning grounds, 
to meditate on the vanity of earth. These are 
rules which Buddha is said to have followed him- 
self, and which are enjoined on his disciples. " 



28. "NOTHING FOR MISSIONS." 
The pastor of a wealthy congregation, who 
takes his conference collections by the envelope 
system, recently said that some envelopes are 






SELECT READINGS. 89 

taken up with "nothing for Missions" written in 
the space for the missionary subscription, and 
this, too, by persons abundantly able to contrib- 
ute. Such persons have money for business, for 
pleasure, for luxury, but deliberately turn away, 
and write it down that they are not willing even 
to lay to a finger to aid in lifting the dark cloud 
of ignorance, idolatry, and moral night, that rests 
like a pall on nine hundred millions of souls. 
Were it those in circumstances of biting want 
who write thus there would be but little ground 
for surprise. We have sometimes dropped a tear 
as we have seen the self-denial of such in secur- 
ing something for mission work. Those who 
write, "nothing for missions/' have not "done 
what they could." 

It is sad to think of what is implied in that 
most expressive little phrase. For some it means 
a want of faith in missions, or the evangelization 
of the world. And yet this is the grand enterprise 
that the Christian Church and every Christian 
heart should keep distinctly and constantly in 
view. To lose faith in missions is to lose faith in 
the Bible and the glorious mission of Jesus in this 
world. Prophetic intimation, clear as a line of 
light, runs all through the Bible, from end to 
end, that this world, through Jesus, is to be con- 
quered and brought back to God. "In him 



90 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

shall the Gentiles trust." The command is, "into 
all nations" — and "he must reign until he hath 
put all enemies under his feet." To lose faith in 
missions is to lose faith in the Bible, in Christian- 
ity, in Jesus. 

"Nothing for missions!" Does this mean want 
of confidence in the way missions are now car- 
ried on — want of confidence in their actual suc- 
cess? This would indicate want of information, 
for there is abundant evidence that from the days 
when the first foreign missionary society was 
formed at Antioch, which sent out Paul and Bar- 
nabus, to the present hour, missionary enterprise 
was never better organized or more abundantly 
successful. Let any one hunt up the "facts and 
figures," and he will stand convinced. A mere 
glance at one of the greatest mission fields must 
suffice in a paper like this. The increase of the 
Christian population of India for the last ten 
years was sixty-one per cent; that is, where there 
were a hundred Christians ten years ago, there 
are a hundred and sixty-one now. This is a 
more rapid triumph of the Gospel than can be 
shown in Christian lands with all the vast, costly, 
and multiplied appliances that are used to turn 
the people to God. At the present rate of in- 
crease for India, in about one hundred and 
twenty-five years from the present, there will be a 



SELECT READINGS. 91 

Christian population of one hundred and thirty- 
eight millions in India. We generally think of 
the early centuries, when Christianity triumphed 
in the Roman empire, as something unparalleled 
in succeeding ages, and yet we live in a time 
witnessing grander triumphs of the Gospel over 
the pagan world. Pagan Rome was not evangel- 
ized as rapidly as pagan India is being converted 
to Jesus. In the days of Constantine the Roman 
world numbered one hundred and twenty mill- 
ions, but these were not all even nominal Chris- 
tians. The above statement about India shows a 
much more rapid rate of evangelization. Critics 
have sometimes made calculations of what it costs 
in dollars and cents to evangelize one pagan. 
Comparisons may be challenged, and it will be 
found, when all expenses are counted up at home, 
that it costs much more to make one convert in 
Christian lands than in pagan countries. In point 
of economy, those who fail to give, because it 
does not seem to "pay," can not make a better in- 
vestment of their money than to send it to India. 
"Nothing for missions I" Does it mean simply 
that there is want of interest in the foreign work 
because away off? The heartlessness of this is 
very sad. Is the world so large that the follow- 
ers of Jesus can not send their sympathies round 
it? Can they afford to sit in the midst of all the 



92 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

light and hope and joy that come from the Gos- 
pel, and shut up the bowels of compassion from 
the millions who sit "in the regions and shadow 
of death ?" What would be thought of travelers, 
who, perishing with hunger and thirst, should find 
in the wilderness and desert a bountiful repast 
spread by the cool, limpid fountain, and then, sit- 
ting down, should bathe their fevered temples, 
allay the torture of thirst, feast to the full on 
those bounties, and then refuse to inform perish- 
ing fellow-travelers of the means of life and es- 
cape they had found? Alas, the perishing mill- 
ions "out in the desert, sick and helpless and 
ready to die!" How can any follower of the lov- 
ing Jesus say, "nothing for missions," and pass 
by on the other side? 

"Nothing for missions!" How great the re- 
sponsibility here! The heathen world must be 
saved through the Christian world, and the re- 
sponsibility of the Christian world is the responsi- 
bility of individual Christians. No man, by mere 
choice, can waive this responsibility or push it 
aside — with a dash of the pen it can not be trans- 
ferred to others. The moral condition and con- 
sequent danger of the heathen world is terrible. 
Paul describes this condition and danger in the 
first and second chapter of the Epistle to the 
Romans. He draws the conclusion that the 



SELECT READINGS. 93 

heathen are responsible (chapter i, 20), and if re- 
sponsible, in view of their awful moral condition 
(see last part of the chapter), how great their 
danger (chapter ii, 9, 12)! "Can we whose souls 
are lighted" leave them thus? Dare we do it? 
But, turning to a nobler motive, when that "great 
multitude which no man can number, of all na- 
tions and kindred and peoples and tongues, stand 
before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed 
with white robes and with palms in their hands," 
can any disciple of Jesus forego the joy of feeling, 
in that triumphant hour, that he did something 
to swell that multitude? Can any one afford 
to remember that he ever wrote, "nothing for 
missions?" 

REV. T. J. SCOTT, D. D. 



29. HEROISM OF THE MISSIONARY. 
The missionary enterprise brings scenes of 
moral grandeur to our own doors. Have you 
seen the missionary leave his own native land? 
Then you have thought of Paul at Miletus, when, 
amid the elders of Ephesus, he said: "I know 
that in every city bonds and afflictions abide in 
me. But none of these things move me, neither 
count I my life dear, so that I may finish my 
course with joy, and the ministry which I have 



94 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the Gospel 
of the grace of God." You have been reminded 
how the elders fell on the apostle's neck and 
kissed him and wept sore, sorrowing most of all 
for the words he spoke, that they should see his 
face no more. In the weeping group around the 
departing missionary perhaps there is a mother. 
It was a precious service which that one rendered 
who anointed the Savior's head with precious 
ointment, and which she rendered who washed 
his feet with her tears and wiped them with the 
hair of her head, and which the Marys rendered 
when they repaired to his sepulchre with spices; 
but there are Marys in our day who have offered 
that which is more precious than all — their sons. 
What mother of Maccabees; what mother of 
Greeks, sending her sons to battle, and charging 
them to bring their shields back, or be brought 
back upon them; what mother of Scipios or Grac- 
chi, girding her son for bloody fields, surpasses 
the mother of Lyman, who, when told that her 
son had fallen in the mission field, that he was 
slain and devoured by cannibals, said: "I thank 
God that he ever gave me such a son, and I 
would that I had another that I might send to 
preach Jesus to the savages that drank his blood!" 

BISHOP THOMSON. 






SELECT READINGS. 95 

30. "HE GOT NOTHING FROM ME." 
I was passing from the door of the sanctuary, 
within whose walls I had listened to an impres 
sive and affecting appeal in behalf of a noble 
Christian charity. A generous response had been 
given to the pleadings of the man of God, and 
many had contributed cheerfully and gratefully to 
the object claiming their benevolence. 

As I mingled with the throng wending home- 
ward, the sentence that heads this article grated, 
oh, how harshly ! on my ear. I involuntarily 
turned to look at the speaker, and saw at a glance 
that it was not because he was too poor, that he 
uttered this mean bonst. I knew him, and knew 
that he was far more able to contribute to a be- 
nevolent work than many who had done so that 
day. 

He got nothing from me! He seemed to tri- 
umph that he had succeeded in hardening his 
breast against its own generous impulses. His 
better emotions had been awakened; they needed 
exercise in order to their own healthfulness. 
But he resolutely said, "No!" His will would 
not permit his heart to soften. He was disciplin- 
ing himself in selfishness. And many there are 
who are thus educating and strengthening their 
own selfish propensities, and striving to render 



96 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

themselves odious in their own esteem, and hate- 
ful to others. 

He got nothing from me. It was an ungrateful 
boast. The God whose poor he was asked to 
pity, whose starving for the bread of life he was 
asked to feed, had been most bountiful in his 
benefactions to him. His health was robust, his 
business prosperous, and there was plenty in his 
home. How basely ungrateful to deny the calls 
of that providence by which he had been so uni- 
formly favored! 

He got nothing from me! Who got nothing? 
He could not mean the preacher, for he asked for 
nothing for himself. His poor neighbor, pros- 
trate upon a bed of sickness, with a helpless, 
suffering family? he got nothing from the Church. 
The minister of Christ's Gospel, who, moved by 
love of God and of souls, said: "Give me only 
food and raiment, and I will go and proclaim the 
blessed Gospel to those who are perishing for 
lack of knowledge," — to him had he scornfully 
said: "You get nothing from me. Not a farthing 
to buy you a loaf shall come from my purse. 
Let the heathen perish, and the heralds of good 
tidings to them starve, so far as they depend on 
my benevolence." 

He got nothing from me! No, avaricious man! 
and, if the world of mankind were like you, all 



SELECT READINGS. 97 

the channels of benevolence would be dried up. 
There would be none left to pity the suffering, 
none to bear the blessings of civilization and 
Christianity over our world. What a selfish, 
griping, hard-hearted race would ours be, if they 
were only all molded after your model! There 
are too many like you; but there is hope for our 
race in the assurance that many are very unlike. 

He got nothing from me! But you have lost 
more than you have kept by your parsimony. 
You have lost another opportunity for treasuring 
up a pleasant memory; for by and by the sweet- 
est reminiscences that can be called back to the 
soul will be those associated with deeds of charity 
and kindness. Be sparing of your seed now, and 
you will have but a sparse harvest of happy mem- 
ories to reap. And, if God rewards according to 
the deeds done, you have lost a reward for this 
refusal; and probably you will have very few 
to claim. 

He got nothing from me! And you will get 
nothing from him when God calls you into judg- 
ment. If you have not a heart to sympathize 
with the miseries of your fellow-men here, there 
will be no pity for your wretchedness hereafter. 
If you are so destitute of love of God and man 
that you can unfeelingly boast of your own hard 
heartedness, then there will be no companionship 
7 



98 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

for you among the loving and the holy in heaven. 
You are not like them in tastes or spirit; and you 
would not associate with them in intimate fellow- 
ship if you could. That mean, selfish nature of 
yours must be changed by the grace of God, and 
rendered benevolent and merciful, or you will 
never lay up treasures in heaven. — The Christian 
Witness. 



31. THE SMALL FEET OF CHINESE LADIES. 

When we left our mission field in China, some 
months ago, we brought many articles illustrative 
of the life and customs of the Chinese people. 

Among other things I had made a model of 
the bound foot of a Chinese lady, and I find it 
interests our friends more than any thing else we 
brought. 

We have two classes of women at Fuh Chau, 
the large and small footed, or bound and unbound. 
The small or bound foot is the mark of a lady, 
and is greatly admired. I am frequently asked 
whether the bound foot is not limited to the higher 
classes. Any family, high or low, rich or poor, 
may have their daughter's feet bound if they 
choose. The question with them is simply, can 
we afford it? They argue the question somewhat 
thus: If we bind the girl's feet, she can't work 



SELECT READINGS. 99 

in the field, carry burdens, or help us much in 
any way. We must wait upon her, and she will 
be an expense to us as long as she is with us. 
But, on the other hand, it will be an honor to have 
a small footed child, and then, too, we may expect 
to get more money for her when she is married, 
as no one but a man of means can afford to have 
such a helpless wife. So the question is decided. 

The binding process commences, so far as I 
can learn, not under four years of age, and often 
at five or six. It would seem as though much 
less pain would be caused to commence with the 
young babe. I suppose, however, that it would 
either kill a babe, or stop the growth of its limbs 
entirely. 

When the foot is bound, the small toes are all 
folded under the foot, leaving only the great toe 
in its natural position. A strip of muslin, two 
or three inches wide and two or three feet long, 
is bound tightly about the foot and ankle, com- 
mencing at the big toe folded down, about the 
foot and heel, drawing the heel forward toward 
the toes, thus shortening the foot and forcing the 
ankle or instep up, giving it an ugly bulge. It 
requires about eleven years of such binding to 
bring the foot to the beautiful (?) size. Any of 
my readers will readily see that great pain and 
suffering must be occasioned by this process. 



IOO MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

A tight shoe is sufficiently torturing to an 
American, but just think for a moment what 
must be the agony caused by this bending, break- 
ing, and crushing of the foot, entirely changing 
its natural form, so that when it is brought to the 
shape they desire it, it looks more like a pig's 
foot than any thing else. The model that I have 
is dressed with an elegant little shoe two inches 
long. I have seen them an inch and a half long. 
As at Fuh Chau a woman may have the natural 
unbound foot without being disreputable — we have 
such a class to work — so the ladies can have the 
smallest kind of feet. North and south of Fuh 
Chau a woman must simulate bound feet, or lose . 
her character as a reputable woman. 

When the bindings become so painful that the 
child screams with agony, the mother relaxes them 
a little, and then tightens them again. I examined 
carefully the foot of a lady thirty years old. She 
could wear a shoe two inches long, and she did 
not need to bandage her feet tightly, as it had 
attained to the desired size. I asked her if it 
hurt her very much. "O yes," she replied, "for 
many years it hurt me dreadfully. The skin of 
the instep broke, and it bled, and was very sore, 
and I screamed with it a great deal; then my 
mother relaxed the bindings for a little time; but 
now it is dead, I have no feeling in it at all." 



SELECT READINGS. IOI 

And dead enough it appeared to me. The flesh 
was shrunken away, and the skin was a blackish 
yellow. It was most offensive looking, and I 
thank the Lord that to me was given birth in a 
Christian land. 

MRS. ETTIE E. BALDWIN. 



32. THE SACRIFICES OF THE HEATHEN. 
Probably ninety-nine hundreths of the people 
live in houses far inferior to those which respect- 
able persons at home give to their cattle and pigs; 
yet, out of this deep poverty, there are very few, 
indeed, who do not daily give something in the 
name of God. Suppose I should attempt to give 
you an idea of the rain-fall over this great land, 
by taking my stand at the mouths of the rivers as 
they fail into the ocean, and measuring the body 
of water that thus passes out. How utterly inad- 
equate an idea would this give! There is the 
whole amount used by the myriads of men and 
animals for all the ordinary purposes of life, the 
amount that goes to support all kinds of vegeta- 
tion, and what is absorbed by the earth and the 
sands of the deserts, and the immense amount 
evaporated by the heat of the sun and the hot 
winds, all unaccounted for. To measure all the 
drops that fall on the earth, you need a very 



102 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

different class of instruments, and a different sort 
of arithmetic. So of the contributions of this 
people to the cause of God, as they consider it. 
Besides all the money spent in building temples, 
in pilgrimages, melas, and offerings to the Brah- 
mins, and the idols in the temples, and all the 
expenses of journeyings, etc. (these being but 
the small streams running into the large, and so 
on to the ocean), you have the daily droppings 
that are used or absorbed where they fall and 
never reach even the small streams. Every day 
there are hosts of fakirs going about from village 
to village, and from house to house; and each 
one receives a little — perhaps only a curry, a 
red -pepper, a spoonful of rice or flour, or a 
fruit, or some vegetable, or whatever may be at 
hand, which can be used or turned into money. 
Then you will see some feeding monkeys, or fish, 
or ants, or the sacred bull, or some other animal. 
Again, I have noticed, particularly in camp, that 
the poorest of the servants, receiving from two 
dollars to three dollars a month, never eat a meal 
without saving a piece of their bread, if it be 
only a single mouthful, to give to an outcast, or 
to a dog, or a crow, as an offering to God. And 
I have observed the same among other travelers. 
You may often see a poor, half-starved person 
eating his piece of dry bread alone by the road- 



SELECT READINGS. I03 

side, and two or three dogs quietly sitting by, 
watching for their share, which they confidently 
expect — yes, and they get it too. Even though 
the poor man's own stomach may crave a great 
deal more, yet the last morsel is thrown to the 
more hungry dogs, in the name of God. Were 
but a tithe of the self-denial exercised by the poor 
of this land in support of their religion exercised 
by the Christian Church, the question would never 
be, how shall we meet our expenses? but, where 
shall we find suitables objects on which to empty 
an overflowing treasury? — The Foreign Missionary. 



33. GOD'S WAY OF SAVING MEN. 
Some professed Christians affect to believe that 
if God wanted the heathen Christianized, he 
would, in his own good time, bring about that 
event without our agency. So God perhaps 
could convert wicked men in Christendom with- 
out human co-operation; but it pleases him to 
save men by "the foolishness of preaching." 
God could feed men by sending them manna 
(bread already baked), and clothe them by send- 
ing garments already manufactured, but he does 
not. He requires us to labor for our support. 
So he has made it the duty and the privilege of 



104 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

Christians to become co-workers with Christ. 
The Church is the depository of the divine Word, 
and the channel through which the blessings of 
the Gospel are sent abroad. If the Church fails 
to sow the seed, to deposit the leaven in the 
lump, that seed will never germinate, the lump 
will never be quickened. The attempt to throw 
upon the Divine Being the responsibility of a 
work especially committed to the Church orig- 
inated in a spirit of fatalism, and is urged by those 
who are too sordid or too indolent to perform the 
parts assigned them by the Master. 

REV. HOMER S. THRALL. 
— &«&&>*< — 

34. MOTIVE IN GIVING TO FOKEIGN MISSIONS. 
There is no sharper or truer test of love for 
Christ than the response we make to the mute, 
but eloquent appeals of such a cause as that of 
foreign missions. The field is far away from our 
daily life. We can not with much vividness real- 
ize the temporal and spiritual condition of the 
heathen. Their terrible necessities do not assault 
us as do the wants of our own streets and our 
own miserable poorer classes. We have entered 
into no formal, or even informal, engagement to 
give a definite sum for the world's evangelization. 
We may have some doubts about the wisdom, on 



SELECT READINGS. 105 

the whole, of the present modes of securing the 
great result. Of all our religious obligations 
this is the one that we can throw off with the 
least solicitude. It is not a question between us 
and a limited company of fellow-Christians who 
have assumed burdens that somebody must meet, 
or we shall witness with our own eyes painful 
and mortifying results; it is more nearly than any 
other religious service a matter directly between 
ourselves and the Lord Jesus. It is not our 
Church, but his cause. 

DR. B. K. PEIRCE. 



35. CHINA AND THE CHINESE. 
When the Europeans were barbarians, and civ- 
ilization was confined to Greece and Rome, 
China had been civilized hundreds of years. 
The Chinese are a literary people. It is impos- 
sible to conceive the number of their publications. 
One encyclopaedia alone consists of fifty-five hun- 
dred volumes. The empire is one of the largest 
in the world. It is twice- as large as the United 
States. It is the most homogeneous in the world. 
In India, for example, there are twenty languages 
spoken. In China there is but one. There is 
but one literature, one set of ideas, one civiliza- 
tion. The Chinese regard themselves as the 



Io6 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

world. When they speak of the race of men 
they mean Chinese. 

The Chinese want the Gospel. They are 
different from the Hindoos. The Hindoos be- 
lieve too much. The Chinese are just the reverse. 
The Hindoos are polytheists. The original wor- 
ship of the Chinese is a fetich; their Bible the 
writings of Confucius. They are taught not to 
believe what they can't see, what can't be appre- 
hended by the five senses. But there is a relig- 
ion — that of Buddhism — which is a religion with- 
out a god. The third religion, which is the real 
religion of the country, is that which teaches the 
worship of their ancestors. You can preach 
Christianity, you can preach against the various 
forms of belief in the country, but they will not 
let you preach against the worship of ancestors. 

Their morals are deplorable. There is plenty 
of glib talking about what they style the duties 
of the five relations. But there is no root to the 
matter. They have no idea of truth. There are 
no such diplomats as in China. They are the 
greatest of liars. Their mandarins lie. Talk 
with one on business, and, if necessary to serve 
his purpose, he will invent a story every word of 
which is false. You may contradict him, but he 
will not take offense. He will give you credit, 
perhaps, for shrewdness, but it is no disgrace to 



SELECT READINGS. IO7 

be thought a liar. It is the most corrupt govern- 
ment in the world. The practices of your rings 
are purity compared with the political morality of 
China. To receive bribes is customary with all, 
from the highest to the lowest official. Now, why 
are the Chinese different from us? It is owing to 
the lack of the idea of religion, of a God who 
rewards and punishes. It was once the same in 
the ancient Roman world. The same ideas are in 
China to-day that were in Rome. What Christian- 
ity has done for Rome that it can do for China. — 
Dr. Schereschewskf s Address before the House of Bishops, 



36. THE OHUECH ONLY SYMPATHIZES WITH THE 
HEATHEN. 

Who sympathizes with the heathen world to- 
day? Where is there any interest on this ques- 
tion except with God and his Church? Who are 
laying plans, forming schemes, devising measures, 
and giving money to meet these circumstances 
and relieve these wants? The governments of 
the earth are not directly doing it. England and 
the United States are the two most enlightened 
and most powerful Protestant nations in the 
world; and yet this question has never come up 
in the cabinets of either of these governments. 
I do not say that it ought to. It may not be the 



108 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

legitimate function of government: at any rate, 
perhaps the minds of neither nation are prepared 
to sustain the government in doing this. Well, 
infidels do not do it. There never has been, and 
is not to-day, an infidel missionary society for 
sending the light of God's truth and the institu- 
tions of God's grace to the benighted, perishing 
heathen nations. Infidels do not send help; on 
the contrary, they seek to rob us of our God, of 
our Savior, and of our heaven. Philosophers do 
not do it. We have scientific associations — his- 
torical, geological, astronomical. These philoso- 
phers are interested in the study of the stars, and 
in the discovery of those which have not before 
been observed; but who of them ever talks to the 
world about the Star of Bethlehem? These phil- 
osophers are most deeply and proudly interested 
in the triumphs of science, and are engaged 
heartily and earnestly in forming electric currents 
of thought through the ocean, from continent to 
continent, and kingdom to kingdom; but which 
of them ever thought of sending a current of 
God's love to any one of those distant and bar- 
barous climes? Commerce is not doing it. 
Commerce has aided in providing facilities of 
international communication — and they are ad- 
vantageous to our Christian enterprise; but com- 
merce does not seek to evangelize the nations; on 



SELECT READINGS. 109 

the contrary, many of its agencies are the most 
embarrassing circumstances we have to contend 
with in propagating the Gospel. I repeat it, the 
only sympathy which the heathen world has is in 
the heart of God and the heart of his Church, 
and the only influences which have been exerted 
for the recovery and salvation of the nations are 
God and his people — his people working with him 
in this work of evangelism, of sending his Word 
and his grace to the ends of the earth. 

BISHOP JANES. 



37, BATHING IS THE GANGES, 
The people of India assemble once a year on 
the banks of the sacred Ganges to bathe and 
worship. Especially do those come who, during 
the past year, have lost relatives or dear friends, 
and it is very common to see women walking on 
the banks of the river, weeping and singing in a 
wailing tone their lamentations for some one who 
has died during the year. Often the ashes of the 
departed ones are brought at this time and cast 
into the river. One evening the usual lights 
were placed on the little reed rafts and pushed 
out into the stream, to be of some use to those 
who were loved here, and who may now need 
light. When the Hindoo thinks of the present 



IIO MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

condition of the dead, he almost naturally con- 
nects them with the sacred river. Is it strange, 
then, that men, women, and children all desire to 
come to this annual fair? 

The people do not suppose that sin is pre- 
vented by this bathing, or that they are made any 
less sinful by any change wrought in them. 
They believe that the sins committed during the 
year are blotted out of their account, so that they 
will not receive punishment for them. They also 
believe that worldly benefits will be greatly in- 
creased through the favor of the goddess of the 
river. 

In connection with the bathing, many offerings 
of sweetmeats, and sometimes of money, are 
made to the goddess, by being thrown into the 
river. Children are also offered to her as of old, 
but they are not now thrown into the river. The 
ceremony is performed, the child is given and re- 
ceived and placed in the river, but is always, 
nowadays, given back to the parents again by the 
kind goddess — thanks to the British Government. 

As soon as the moon is declared by the pundits 
to be quite full all will join in one more bath — 
will cry heartily, Gunga Jee Ki Jail — "All hail to 
the Ganges!" — will make their last offerings to 
the priests, and take the cars for home. 

E. W. PARKER. 






SELECT READINGS. Ill 

38, MISSIONS. 
Jesus was the greatest missionary the world 
ever knew. I am sorry we are not more like 
him. When the world was lying in wickedness, 
and when we were alienated from God and en- 
tirely lost, the heart of this blessed missionary 
was moved with pity to deliver us from eternal 
ruin. The glory which he had with the Father 
was willingly laid aside, and the sufferings and 
hardships of life patiently endured, in order to 
purchase salvation for us. Those who are unwill- 
ing to deny themselves of temporal comforts in 
order to assist in the prosecution of the great 
work of saving souls, would do well to consider 
the sacrifice that Christ made to save them. God 
desires the evangelization of the world, but the 
Church must possess more of the spirit of the 
Master, and less of the spirit of the world, before 
it will be accomplished. So be sure we are mak- 
ing some progress in this matter, but not in pro- 
portion to our ability. Look at the magnitude of 
the work! six or eight hundred millions who are 
without Christ, and, consequently, without hope 
in the world. China is almost entirely destitute 
of the Bread of Life, and her starving children 
are stretching their hands imploringly to us for 
help. And there are the dark children of 



112 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

Africa — millions of them — whose thoughts scarcely 
rise higher than a quart of rice soup, and whose 
habits are so exceedingly brutal and degrading as 
to shock the sensibilities of every one who pos- 
sesses a spark of refinement, or has participated 
to the least degree in the benefits of civilization. 
These poor people are worshiping birds, beasts, 
fishes, trees, rivers, and, indeed, almost every 
thing except God. My friends, What do you in-- 
tend to do for these poor people? It seems to 
me I hear some stingy fellow say, "Let them 
alone, they are joined to their idols!" Did Jesus 
act that way toward you? When the world was 
dead, spiritually, did Jesus say, "Let them 
alone?" No, he came to seek and to save that 
which was lost. These heathen want information 
in regard to God and his moral government; and 
you are bound to do all you can to give them 
the information necessary to salvation. If you 
are unwilling to go yourself, as a teacher, you 
should be willing to assist in sending some 
one else. 

c~<!®G§>k> 

39, TRUE MISSION WORK. 
I read, one day, in thoughtful mood, 

Of mission work abroad — 
Of multitudes of precious ones, 

Now worshiping the Lord, 






SELECT READINGS. 113 

Who once in heathen darkness bowed; 

And to myself I said, 
"How noble is the work of those 

By whom these souls were led — 
A noble and unselfish work, 

To leave their friends behind, 
And go, to tell in heathen lands, 

Christ's love for human kind." 

But then, thought I, alas, how few 

Can thus go, far away, 
And for these poor benighted ones 

Turn darkness into day! 
Is there no other work, O Christ, 

Which I may do for thee, 
And one day hear thy welcome words, 

"Ye did it unto me?" 
Then to my mind swift came the thought ' 

That other hearts had done, 
Perhaps, as great and noble work 

In mission fields at home. 
But then, thought I, this, too, requires 

Means, talent, time, and tact, 
Which we, poor, weak, and timid ones, 

Alas! most sadly lack. 
My heart grew heavy, and I said, 

"To me no talent's given; 
I 'm quite a useless worm on earth, — 

Shall I be thus in heaven?" 



114 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

Then suddenly around me shone 

A radiance, wondrous bright, 
And by my side an angel stood, 

All clothed with heavenly light; 
With reverence meek I bowed my head; 

I heard a sweet voice say, 
"Dear heart, you seek to do God's will, 

But do not know the way; 
The words you spoke, a moment since, 

Most surely were not true; 
Perhaps the gifts that men call great 

Have not been given you. 
But God looks ever at the heart; 

He weighs the motives, too, 
And oft-times takes the weakest ones 

His noblest work to do. 
All work for Christ is mission work, 

Whatever it may be; 
Our Father's ways are not like man's, 

There's work, dear one, for thee. 
A word, a prayer, a tear, or smile, 

Some stony heart may break, 
For sometimes these are wondrous powers, 

When used for Jesus' sake. 
Perchance thy task may be at home, 

To sweeten toil and care, 
To cheer the hearts of wearied ones, 

Their joys and sorrows share. 









SELECT READINGS. 115 

Control thy thoughts, thy words, thy deeds, 

And let thy heart each hour 
Be Mocked up with the key of prayer/ 

Safe from the tempter's power; 
For, hast thou never seen, my child, 

A heart that's filled with grace 
Bear often Christ's most precious love, 

Reflected in the face? 
Be ever ready when he calls; 

Seek not great things to do; 
But watch and pray, and let your God 

Mark out the way for you." 

I woke, and lo! 'twas but a dream, 

No angel guest was near; 
But still the words that I had heard 

Were ringing in my ear; 
And unto me that vision seemed 

A message from the Lord, 
To teach me that each Christian act 

Is mission work for God. 

LULU M. SLY. 



I»AI*T III. 

Declamations. 



1, A PROPHECY. 
Walk, brothers, with me this morning out 
amidst the future, and what do we witness as we 
give ourselves to look? This, even this: Chris- 
tian sanctuaries and Christian ordinances are sur- 
rounding us in every land; Christian homes and 
Christian Churches are welcoming us in every 
language; Christian psalmody and song are invit- 
ing us in a thousand forms to sing the song of 
Moses and the Lamb. We inquire for the 
heathen temples, and we are told they are in 
ruins. We inquire for the heathen idols, and we 
are told that they have been flung to the moles 
and to the bats. We inquire for the heathen 
priesthoods, and we are told they are defunct. 
We inquire for the heathen customs, and we are 
told that they are gone wholly out of mind. We 
inquire for the heathen worshipers, and we are 
told that the race is extinct. We inquire for such 
residuum of heathenism as, peradventure, may be 
left; and we are taken to local museums or to 
international exhibitions, and told significantly to 



DECLAMATIONS. 117 

look there. We look for the material residuum of 
it accordingly; and there, sure enough, it is in 
the collections of moth-eaten vestments, and di- 
lapidated altars, and blood-stained implements, 
and statues and images artistically so beautiful but 
morally so diabolically vile. Then we look for 
the literary residuum of heathenism; and there it 
is for observation in those crumbling, fast-decay- 
ing volumes which the bookworm has compla- 
cently and patiently recovered, and which the 
student and the archaeologist insatiably devour. 
Then we look for the traditionary residuum of 
heathenism; and there it is, somewhere about, in 
memories which are feebler to-day than yesterday, 
in echoes which will be fainter to-morrow than 
to-day. Finally we look for the moral residuum 
of heathenism; and, thank God, it is nowhere! 
The idols are utterly abolished. The earth is 
covered with the knowledge of the Lord. The 
kingdoms of this world are in very deed the 
kingdoms of our God and his Christ. Where sin 
has reigned unto death, grace is reigning through 
righteousness unto everlasting life. 

REV. DR. BROCK. 

2, DESIGN OF CHRISTIANITY. 
The design of Christianity is to new-create 
the hearts of men — regenerate them, and bring 



Il8 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

their souls up to a higher life. Such a religion is 
not the offspring of natural principles; it is not 
indigenous in any land, or in the heart of any 
man. Rationalists and skeptics may talk much 
about the benefits and the sufficiency of natural 
religion; but they have yet to show any land or 
people where it was indigenous, or where it pu- 
rified the heart, elevated the soul to a higher and 
holier life, and gave serene and triumphant death. 
If natural religion could accomplish this for man, 
then, indeed, no need that our Lord become in- 
carnate, live a life of persecution and privation, 
die a most painful and ignominious death, lie in 
the cold grave in the embraces of death, and rise 
from the tomb. There is a light that lighteth 
every man that cometh into the world; but there 
is also a barbarism that eclipses this light. Noth- 
ing short of the power of the Gospel can effect- 
ually dispel it. Man needs a religion which wil) 
afford sure checks to vice, protection to virtue, 
restraint to the passions, will give affectionate 
hearts, an altar in every family, society with sweet 
companionship and safety, a virtuous life, a life with- 
out the semblance of death, aspirations never left 
to pine in ignorance, and hope that never sinks 
to despair, but is buoyant, and is as an anchor to 
the soul. 

DR. S. T. ANDERSON. 



DECLAMATIONS. II9 

3. PREACHING THE GOSPEL TO ALL THE WORLD. 

Even the enemies of missions can not deny 
that they are a power in the world. Wherever 
the seaman, the merchant, or the curious traveler 
in his tours of exploration comes, either he finds 
the tracks of missionaries who have been there 
before him, or else the missionary soon follows in 
his footsteps. The messengers of the Gospel 
have found their way to almost all the known and 
accessible peoples of the earth; and every year 
they are taking possession of new territory. The 
good news has been proclaimed in hundreds of 
languages, and with every year the Bible is read 
in additional dialects. The day is not far away 
when "the Gospel of the kingdom shall be 
preached among all nations for a witness unto 
them." Indeed, it is thus preached already. Wc 
are already approaching this desired aim of the 
missionary enterprise; and we are in earnest to 
fulfill literally this one great command of Jesus 
Christ, "Go into all the world, and preach the 
Gospel to every creature." 

This world-wide preaching of the Gospel is 
the distinguishing characteristic of the present 
missionary age. The Church of Christ has had 
its missions in every age; but even when they 
have been most flourishing, as in the times of the 



120 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

apostles and in the Middle Ages, there was noth- 
ing that could be called a mission to all the 
world. To carry the witness of Jesus to "the 
ends of the earth," that all nations, in the proper 
sense of those terms, may hear the Gospel — of 
this mighty work it is the peculiar characteristic 
of our own age to have made a serious beginning. 

DR. CHRISTLIEB. 



4, OUR DUTY. 
Were we now, for the first time, called to 
enter upon this scene of labor, and to make the 
experiment upon paganism, undirected by experi- 
ence, uncheered by success, and surrounded by 
the chilling prophecies of failure, it would still be 
our duty to set forth. The solemn obligation to 
repair past neglects, to redeem our character, and 
to show compassion to our perishing brethren, 
would all demand that we should make the attempt 
in the face of the world's scorn and the world's 
anger. To others was assigned that task. Re- 
vered men! they waked while the world, and even 
the Church, slept; they dropped the tear over 
scenes which all looked upon with indifference; 
they regarded, as the purchase of the Savior's 
sufferings, a race which others had chased out of 
the family of man, or on which had been fixed 



DECLAMATIONS. 121 

the mark of Cain or the curse of Canaan. Per- 
haps they trembled while they made the experi- 
ment. Strong as was their faith, did it never 
falter, when not only the insulting white, but the 
degradation of the pitied race itself seemed to 
scoff the effort; and when, through every chamber 
of that vast sepulcher of souls, dead in sin, a for- 
bidding voice seemed to issue, "Can these dry 
bones live?" Perhaps it did falter. The lan- 
guage of the anxious hearts of the first Christian 
laborers, pressing forward in a work as yet un- 
cheered by a conversion, and often cheated by 
fallacious promises of success which only bloomed 
to wither, might, perhaps, often be "Lord, I be- 
lieve; help thou mine unbelief!" The prayer was 
heard. Faith, small as a grain of mustard-seed, 
has the prerogative of removing mountains. They 
went out weeping, "bearing precious seed," and 
the very earliest laborers came again "rejoicing, 
bringing the sheaves with them." They opened 
the path to their successors, who have carried out 
the work to the extent in which it now presents 
itself; and thus it has descended to our cares, 
stamped and charactered with the most obvious 
proofs of a divine sanction and of the special co- 
operation of God. 

RICHARD WATSON. 



122 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

5. THE OBJECT OF THE MISSIONARY. 

The work of the missionary is to let into the 
pagan mind light above the brightness of the sun; 
not in its blinding floods, but in its growing inten- 
sity; not so much for their perception of guilt — of 
this they are agonizingly aware — but for their dis- 
covery of a remedy of which they have never heard. 
Conscious they are of the wrath with which the 
heavens frown over them; but how that wrath 
can be made to melt away into a divine smile 
they know not. The missionary utters the divine 
restorer's name, the gloom breaks away, and new 
ends of existence start into light. His simple 
assurance "that God can be just and the justifier 
of him that believeth in Jesus," gives a new ele- 
ment to repentance, justifying power to faith, and 
an infinite object of hope. Christian missions 
multiply and intensify saving motives. They give to 
the benighted the Bible, the Sabbath, the Min- 
istry, and the Church. Each of these is a 
powerfully modifying agency, and together they 
soon work out for a community a new social sys- 
tem. That gloom is soon vanquished which con- 
cealed the purity of God's justice, the sanction of 
his law, the depth of his mercy, and the sublime 
mystery of the incarnation. 

DR. DEMPSTER. 






DECLAMATIONS. 1 23 

6. GIVING. 
"The system of redemption, from first to last, 
is one grand system of giving. God loved the 
world, and gave bis only begotten Son to save it 
from eternal ruin. The Son loved us, and gave 
himself to death for us. This giving does not 
rest at the point of bounty, but passes on to that 
of inconceivable sacrifice. Every man on whose 
spirit the true light of redemption breaks finds 
himself an heir to an inheritance of givings which 
began on the eve of time, and will keep pace 
with the course of eternity. To giving 'he owes 
his all; in giving he sees the substantial evidence 
he can offer that he is a grateful debtor; and the 
self-sacrifice of Him in whom he trusts says, far 
more pathetically than words can say, 'it is more 
blessed to give than to receive.' Christianity 
ordains that giving shall be both bountiful and 
cheerful. It does not satisfy the demands of our 
religion that we give; we must give much. ' He 
that soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly.' 
This refers to the amount of gifts. But Christian- 
ity is not content here; that unsparing amount 
must be given with a cheerful heart, 'not grudg- 
ingly, or of necessity; for God loveth the cheer- 
ful giver.' " 

WM. ARTHUR. 



124 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

7. EESULTS ACHIEVED. 

The results achieved in the foreign fields are 
not such as to discourage more abundant labors. 
The attempt to give any just conception of the 
work actually accomplished by figures, represen- 
tative of progress in different lines, is as unsatis- 
factory as it is unjust. How shall we estimate 
the moral changes in the character, thoughts, and 
aspirations of millions of men under the influence 
of the Gospel, as illustrated by the example of 
thousands of their own countrymen, rescued from 
the degradation of heathenism, and now compel- 
ling respect and admiration by the progress they 
are making in Christian civilization? How shall 
we measure the influence of the press, scattering 
its millions of pages of Christian literature far 
and wide, in city and town, on island and conti- 
nent, in twenty different languages, in all parts of 
the globe? how estimate the results of educa- 
tion reaching hundreds of thousands of youth, 
wakening to new thought and hope, freeing the 
mind from its bondage to the superstitions of 
ages, and leading it to the just recognition of the 
spirit and power of that Gospel which every- 
where quickens and develops the intellectual as 
well as the moral faculties of man? 

DR. N. G. CLARK. 



DECLAMATIONS. 1 2 5 

8. WHAT DO WE LACK? 
What do we lack as a Christian denomina- 
tion? Not numbers, surely; no more do we lack 
culture, though this is an element which admits 
of indefinite increase; nor yet wealth, and the 
capacity to accumulate riches. We lack nothing 
essential to the largest success in any of these re. 
spects. What we lack is the spirit which forgets 
self, and opens the heart and the hand to the 
needs of others. All our work in every line is 
suffering for want of a small percentage of the 
means which are heaped up and locked up in our 
Churches. Were Paul writing to us I think he 
would say, "Therefore, as ye abound in every 
thing, in faith and utterance and knowledge and 
in all diligence, see that ye abound in this grace 
also." 

REV. T. J. SMITH. 

9. THAT IMMOKTAL WIDOW. 
We read of a widow in whose gift Christ took 
a great interest, because it amounted to so much, 
not to the treasury, but to the woman. It had in 
it a heart, a sacrifice, a meaning, which he could 
not overlook; and he made the gift and giver im- 
mortal. Why she gave so much, we know not; 
but Jesus did. We know that the giving of her 



126 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 



whole living meant want in her home, a crumb 
instead of a loaf; but Jesus saw, I doubt not, that 
it meant love to God and his service, a sacrifice 
of the lower wants of life for the sake of the de- 
sires of the soul, a giving which was up to her 
full ability. Now, Christ did not insist that 
others should give as she did, except the young 
man who was commanded to sell all, and give to 
the poor: but wishes us to know that he loved 
that act on her part. It was so beautiful and 
precious, that he made a record of it which would 
never fade away. He caught up those two mites 
which were falling among the shekels, and put 
them away in his heart, because they had a 
meaning in them. Let us see to it that our giv- 
ing has a- meaning in it. 

REV. A. B. WHITE. 

— ^S*x3€*< — 

10, THE SEASON THE WORLD IS NOT CONVERTED. 

How does it happen that, after the lapse of 
eighteen hundred years, there remains so much 
land to be possessed, and the prospect for the 
world's conversion appears yet so dim and dis- 
tant? It happens simply and solely because the 
Church has been derelict in her duty. She failed 
to develop and improve her talent. Christ com- 
manded his disciples to go into all the world, but 
before they had gone over a fourth part of their 






DECLAMATIONS. 12 7 

parish, they became satisfied and settled down, 
leaving vast regions un visited. Had this work 
been confided to a superhuman order of angelic 
beings, we can hardly conceive it possible that 
one of the heavenly messengers would have 
paused upon folded wing until the last of the 
human species had heard the glad tidings of sal- 
vation. A great company of them came troop- 
ing down to announce to the shepherds the birth 
of Christ; but they were not permitted to do 
more — only possibly to become ministers to the 
heirs of salvation. Men have been chosen to 
preach; men supposed to be thoroughly acquainted 
with human misery; men who have experienced 
redemption in the blood of the Lamb, and who 
have tasted of the good Word of God, and have 
felt something of the powers of the world to 
come; men who know the grace of our Lord 
Jesus Christ, and the riches of his abounding 
mercy to sinners. These men, with a commission 
to all the world, are waiting and wondering "if 
there be few that be saved. 7 ' 

REV. H. S. THRALL. 

— ^4see~s — 

11. IMPORTANCE OF MONET. 
"Money answereth all things/ 7 either good or 
evil, according to its use. As the representative 
of property, it is stamped by the great Giver with 



128 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

the character of a means rather than of an end; 
of a responsible agency, instead of a final good. 
The very highest ends to which it can be devoted 
are those of the Gospel. They embrace, both 
for ourselves and for the world, every thing valu- 
able in time and eternity. For this the sublime 
mysteries of God manifest in the flesh were re- 
vealed, the stupendous events of the incarnation, 
sufferings, death, resurrection, and ascension of 
the glorious Son were enacted. For this all 
heaven is moved, while the Intercessor pleads, 
the Spirit is sent forth, the word is given, the 
Church established, and all things are ready, 
awaiting our co-operation with men and means in 
the delivery of the message. Money thus becomes 
an auxiliary of God himself, and is exalted to par- 
ticipate in the work of the only begotten Son. 
What a privilege is such use of the things that 
perish? How fearful the responsibility connected 
with its proper improvement! 

REV. E. A. JOHNSON. 



12, HOW MUCH A NEGRO BOY WANTED A BIBLE. 

The Rev. Dr. Philip, who labored successfully 
for many years as a missionary in South Africa, 
gives the following pleasing incident in reference 






DECLAMATIONS. I29 

to a negro boy's anxiety to possess a copy of the 
Holy Scriptures: "On one occasion, after having 
given a Bible to a negro girl whose mother had 
been left a widow with three children, a boy about 
ten years of age, her brother, pleaded very hard 
for one for himself. Agreeably to a rule I had laid 
down, to give but one Bible gratis to a family, I re- 
fused to give him one without money. After retiring 
a little he returned, with a skilling (three pence). 
Informing him that I could not give him a Bible 
for that sum, he went away, and returned with 
another skilling. Finding that was not sufficient, 
he again tried to obtain more money, but in this 
he failed; making a fourth attempt he succeeded, 
and obtained another skilling. He could do no 
more. His resources were exhausted, and he 
knew if he did not now succeed he must be with- 
out a Bible. Under this impression you would 
have been affected to have seen this interesting 
boy in an imploring posture, with his arms ex- 
tended, holding his skillings in his own hand, and 
the tears in his eyes, while he pleaded for a Bible. 
I could no longer resist his importunity. On in- 
quiring how he procured the money, I was told 
that he got one skilling from his mother, and one 
from his brother, and that he pledged some play- 
things for the other. I gave him a Bible, and 
returned his skillings; and he could not have ap- 
9 



I30 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

peared more happy than he showed himself on 
this occasion if a crown had been put upon 
his head." 



13. WE MUST SEND THE GOSPEL. 
If Christianity is a divine fact, and there was 
an historical divine Savior incarnate upon the 
earth, Christian disciples are not left to a personal 
choice in this matter. By all the love and faith 
they have in their Lord, and by all the obligation 
they owe to him, they are compelled to bear forth 
his Gospel to the utmost of their ability to every 
creature. It is too late in the world's history to 
speak of the mild sufferings and slight moral perils 
of the heathen as compared with the terrible bar- 
barism to be found in the streets of our cities. 
Men who have lived in China and India use no 
such gentle phrases when they speak of the social 
and individual degradation that they are forced 
every-where to gaze upon. Without light and 
moral power from without they never can rise. 
With us no social or moral condition is immutable. 
Light is constantly pouring into the darkest places 
in our streets. Saintly women are daily carrying 
a pure Gospel, with all its temporal humanities 
and heavenly graces, into the abandoned quarters 
of our largest cities. There are but few souls be- 






DECLAMATIONS. I3I 

yond the sound of Christian bells and the per- 
sonal approaches of Christian invitations. It is 
impossible for any great physical or moral want 
to remain long neglected in our communities. 
Incomparably more favorable, as to opportunities, 
is the condition of our lowest and most wretched 
populations, when compared with the pariahs of 
India and the lowest classes of Chinese. No 
movements that we have set in operation at home 
are resulting in more present or ultimate human 
benefit than Christian missions are now accom- 
plishing in Eastern fields. Shall a pagan have a 
broader charity than a Christian? The former 
uttered the sublime sentiment, " nothing that is 
friendly to man is foreign to me;" and Christ 
said, "the field is the world." 

DR. B. K. PEIRCE. 



14, WORKING FOR JESUS. 
A preacher in England was once talking 
about the heathen, and telling how much they 
needed Bibles to teach them of Jesus. In the 
congregation was a little boy who became intensely 
interested. He wished to help buy Bibles for the 
heathen. But he and his mother were very poor, 
and at first he was puzzled to know how to raise 
the money. 



132 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

Finally he hit upon the plan. The people of 
England use rubbing or door stones for polishing 
their hearths and scouring their wooden floors. 
These stones are bits of marble or freestone 
begged from the stone-cutters or marble-workers. 

This little boy had a favorite donkey, named 
Neddie. He thought it would be nice to have 
Neddie help in the benevolent work. So he har- 
nessed him up and loaded him with stones, and 
went around calling: 

"Do you want any door stones?" 

Before long he raised fifteen dollars. And 
then he went to the minister, and said: 

"Please, sir, send this money to the heathen." 

"But, my dear little fellow, I must have a 
name to acknowledge it." 

The lad hesitated, as if he did not understand. 

"You must tell me your name," reported the 
minister, "that we may know the giver." 

"Oh, well, then, sir, please put it down to 
Neddie and me; that will do, won't it, sir?" 



15. CHRISTIANITY FOR THE WORLD. 

There is this transcendent and distinguishing 

fact about Christianity, that you may take it to 

any part of the earth, and, properly planting it 

under any clime, amid any condition, of human 



DECLAMATIONS. I33 

society, however debased, however elevated, 
under the blessing of heaven it will live and 
thrive, and bring forth fruit to the glory of God 
and the salvation of man. But it is not so with 
any form of false religion, not even the very 
best — to say nothing of heathenism, just now. 
Bring Mohammedanism, for instance — which is 
the highest system of religious error, because it 
has centered in it the great doctrine of the unity 
of God, and has stolen other precious truths from 
the Jewish and Christian Scriptures — but take 
Mohammedanism to-day, and plant it amid the 
advancing Christian civilization of Great Britain 
or the United States, and immediately the poor 
exotic would begin to wither and droop and die 
under the brightness of the Sun of Righteousness 
and the pure air of the Christian firmament. But 
with respect to the Christianity of the New Testa- 
ment, no Christian missionary society — no well- 
instructed Christian missionary — would ever fear 
for a moment to endeavor the fulfillment of the 
great commission, "Go ye, therefore, into all the 
world, and preach the Gospel to every creature : 
he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved: 
but he that believeth not shall be damned;" for 
"all power in heaven and earth is given unto me; 
and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end 
of the world." j. wesley hokne. 



134 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

16. THE LOKD PREPARING THE WAT. 
Two propositions give great confidence in the 
certain and speedy success of the great mission- 
ary work in the world. First, that God has been 
evidently and remarkably preparing the world for 
its possession by the Church; and, secondly, he 
has been equally evidently preparing the Church 
with means and facilities for entering into this 
work and taking the world for Christ. God is 
evidently in this w r ork; his hand is clearly visible 
in the opening up of the nations, and in prepar- 
ing the way in the world for -the coming of the 
Lord. His providences in this respect have been 
remarkable, and can easily be read by every 
man. He has been also enlarging, purifying, en- 
riching, and strengthening his Church for this 
great work, in a manner that just as plainly indi- 
cates that God means his people to enter into 
these open places. It is God's work, then, and 
we are clearly in the line of his providential indi- 
cations. Therefore, we can not fail. God never 
fails, never retreats. His plans never go back- 
ward. The very magnitude and rapidity and 
prosperity of our own work may make us stagger 
a little. It may be a time to try our faith and 
loyalty and zeal; it may call for labor, some bur- 
dens and sacrifices, but it must and will succeed. 






DECLAMATIONS. I35 

The Church will never repudiate her own suc- 
cesses. She has been praying and laboring for 
the coming of the kingdom of God; she has been 
crying during the years, "thy kingdom come," 
and now that it is coming, though it may cost us 
more labor and more sacrifice, we will not say, 
"Lord, stay thy hand!" The Church will still 
keep praying, "Let thy kingdom come!" and, as 
it comes will joyfully meet the new demands 
made upon her. 

BISHOP WILEY. 

17. SIOTS OF THE TIMES. 
I suppose we never did live in times of such 
extraordinary spiritual activity as the time in 
which it is our privilege to live to-day. Well, my 
point is, that we are to regard all this as a sum- 
mons to faithful duty. Here and there and yon- 
der we see the cloud rising, swelling, hanging, 
and bursting over this and that hill of Zion; 
Churches that have languished for years have 
been aroused into an activity of life that has as- 
tonished them, and have felt as if the death-frost 
was unchained which had been long benumbing 
them, and many have begun to run to and fro 
inflamed with zeal for God and love for souls; 
old formalities have been smitten like the rock of 
Horeb and the waters have leaped forward in the 



I36 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 



wilderness; the sound of earth's only joyous wail- 
ing, the wailing of penitent hearts which loud 
hosannas follow, lias been heard from many 
centers and from many souls; ministers whose dis- 
heartened labors have been on the rock for many 
years have brought their sheaves with a reaper's 
bursting gladness; the gracious rain has come 
down as pitifully and bountifully as if it were go- 
ing to be an eternal April to the ground, making 
it all one emerald, and every thing seems as if a 
moral Summer to the world were coming. 
Every Christian must devoutly thank God for the 
signs of the times in that matter. Well, but what 
is the lesson which it teaches us? What is the 
morale of all this revival energy ? Luther says 
somewhere, the grace of God is a flying shower." 
Is it to be so? I will tell you, if you want to 
know, what, in my judgment, the morale of all 
this is for us. In one word — " work," hard work, 
harder work, self-denying work — thank God, re- 
munerative work. There is a passage that you 
have listened to, that you have, perhaps, quoted 
many times, "For Zion's sake will I not hold my 
peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, 
until the righteousness thereof go forth as bright- 
ness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that 
burnetii." Who says that? Christ is the speaker 
there. It is the glorified Christ working con- 






DECLAMATIONS. I37 

stantly for the earthly Zion ; and, as it is in 
heaven so it is on earth. There must be no 
lingering on the summit of Tabor. The solemn 
ceremony of the Redeemer's installation as the 
world's high-priest must be shortened. 

PUNSHON. 



18. REFLEX INFLUENCE OF MISSIONS. 
Missions have done a noble work toward mak- 
ing us a generous, benevolent, instead of a mean, 
money-loving people. Our Lenoxes, Robertses, 
Peabodies, Vassars, and Drews will multiply in 
the future, and cover the world with their monu- 
ments of love and good-will to man. The mis- 
sionary spirit is in all this. Surely missions have 
uncovered the wretchedness of the nations, and 
have brought out the strongest motives to send 
them Christianity. Our missionary societies have 
simplified the methods of this work, and facili- 
tated the ways of accomplishing it. Our mission- 
aries have set the example of self-denial — have 
gone to the different habitations of wickedness, 
and asked us to sustain them there. Powerful 
motives have been set before the Churches to in- 
duce them to give as God has prospered them to 
promote this work. The effect has been only 
partial, and yet indifference diminishes, interest is 



138 



MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 



increasing, good results are felt not only in the 
foreign field, but here at home, in cultivating the 
habit of Christian giving, and thus regulating 
and sanctifying the property relation. And what 
good object here at home even does not feel 
the influence of the increased benevolence of 
the age ? 

I do not maintain that the change that has 
come over the Christian world in the matter of 
benevolence is due wholly to foreign missions. 
Other Christian enterprises have helped to pro- 
duce it. I only affirm that foreign missions have 
been a leading cause of this change. They have 
given a new spring to moral enterprise, put a new 
element of power into practical godliness. 

PRESIDENT HAMLIN. 



19. WHAT MISSIONS PROPOSE TO DO. 
Christian missions propose nothing less than 
the conquest of the entire world. They propose 
not merely the reduction of all nations and of all 
governments to conformity with Christian laws, 
but they propose the subjugation of every individual 
heart. No other such enterprise ever engaged 
the thoughts of man. There have been conquer- 
ors from time to time, through the whole history 



DECLAMATIONS. 139 

of the globe, from the days of Nimrod to the 
days of Napoleon; but no one, in his insanest 
imagination, ever expected to extend the scepter 
of his dominion over all the inhabitants of the 
globe, and much less over every thought of the 
understanding, and every purpose of the heart. 
Yet such is the enterprise of Christian missions. 
To such an enterprise great difficulties necessarily 
oppose themselves, and it is well that those diffi 
culties should be looked directly in the face. In 
the first place, consider the character of true relig- 
ion, compared with the religions which it is pro- 
posed to displace. The Christian religion makes 
no compromise with any wrong or with any sin. 
All other religions do. The Christian religion de- 
mands the renunciation, the self-sacrifice, the sub- 
jugation of some of the dearest emotions and 
most cherished passions of the human breast. 
All other religions more or less gratify these incli- 
nations. The Christian religion denies all merit 
to man, and ascribes all merit to the Savior. All 
other religions ascribe merit to man alone, and 
if they look to the future, and for divine blessings, 
they look for them through his own works. 
Hence, we see at once that the Christian relig- 
ion undertakes the work of converting an un- 
willing world, and of overcoming the wills of men. 

CHIEF-JUSTICE CHASE. 






140 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

20. THE PRESENCE OF JESUS INSURES VICTORY. 
Oh, that we could breathe into you the mis- 
sionary spirit! Great is the undertaking, but 
great is the promise. An ancient king, on the 
eve of a battle in which the enemy were ten times 
as numerous as his own troops, went forth, in the 
darkness, among his tents to observe the spirit of 
his men. He found a group murmuring against 
him, comparing their own numbers with the op- 
posing host, and declaring it to be madness to 
meet the foe. Throwing aside his robe and dis- 
playing the insignia of royalty, he said, "But 
how many have you counted me for?" Would 
you go forth against a world? Sit down and 
estimate how many He may be counted for, who 
has said he will be with you alway. 

BISHOP THOMSON. 



21. DISINTERESTED BENEVOLENCE. 
God has been pleased to suspend the conver- 
sion of the world on the giving of the Church, 
that he might grow in his people a divine and 
magnanimous charity, that, more than any other 
grace, assimilates them to Christ. "Do good, 
and lend, hoping for nothing again." Here it is, 
in its purest form — a charity unalloyed by self- 
interest, a benevolence that embraces the world. 



DFXLAMATIONS. I4I 

We need the missionary cause, with its de- 
mands recognized and met pretty fairly up to 
the extent of our ability, to give the breadth 
and beauty and nobility of Christian charity. 
Will not giving to our needy neighbors about us 
confer this grace? Somewhat; but oh, it is but 
as a pint-cup to the ocean. The missionary 
cause is the grandeur of generosity. No man can 
take it into his heart but he feels his soul expand 
with the emotions of the Son of God. 

DR. A. M'KEOWN. 

22. HOW ALL MAT HELP, 
If we can not go ourselves — and let each one 
settle this first question for herself, with an honest 
conscience, offering only such excuses as she 
would be willing to repeat at Christ's bar of judg- 
ment — we can at least help send others — first, by 
giving our money, and then by our prayers. And 
what untold good would thus be accomplished 
could not be calculated until the books were 
opened above. And for all this ye would receive 
a hundred fold; for good done unto others always 
comes home in spiritual blessing. How the fash- 
ions of this w r orld pass away, prejudices vanish, 
passions cool, and ambitions die out before the 
approaching chill of death! As we look back to 
our childhood, few and quickly fled the years 



142 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

seem to us; but the time that is left is far shorter, 
and hurrying with seeming greater rapidity. The 
end will come quickly, and how quietly our pale 
feet will lie when crossed in rest, if they now 
walk in God's ways! And if these hands have 
been full of sweet charities, and busy with our 
Lord's work, they will lightly press the breast 
Avhereon our friends will place them. The coin- 
weights will close eyes whose last look was upon 
Christ, if now we turn them full of pity upon 
those who never heard of Christ. And if our 
lips are unceasing in prayers and pleadings for 
those too ignorant and sin-stricken to plead for 
themselves, they will speak eloquently after we 
can no longer close them in speech. And what 
an abundant entrance will be administered unto 
us if we go up to the gates of heaven encircled 
by the souls of heathen women to whom we had 
sent the knowledge of a crucified Savior! 

MRS. DONELSON. 
— -o~<&®£*< 

23. VICTORY CERTAIN. 
We need not be at all uneasy. Every form of 
error is falsehood; every teaching, except that 
which lies at the foundation of morals, is a lie. 
Ours is the truth; and when the first disciples 
went forth into the world with nothing but the 
truth inclosed in this holy volume, they went 



DECLAMATIONS. 143 

forth to conquer, and the Churches of our time, 
if they will exercise similar faith, may go forth to 
conquer. All that is to be done is, for each one 
to ask himself, "What part am I to take in this 
work?" to look at it as a matter of personal duty 
and as a matter of personal faith, answering to 
himself as he will answer finally to God; and then 
the great revival, which- now seems to be taking 
place through Christendom, will break out into a 
new crusade; not a crusade with banners and 
military leaders; not a crusade aiming at material 
conquests over men; but a crusade which pro- 
poses to itself nothing less than that great 
contest to which I adverted at first — the con- 
conquest of the world, and the bringing of every 
thought into captivity to Christ. Let us, my 
friends, do our duty, and we need not fear but 
that Christ will soon take to himself the heathen 
for his inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the 
earth for his possessions. 

CHIEF-JUSTICE CHASE. 

— ^3§e£^ — 
24. GIVE THE BEST TO GOD. 
One looks at a large meeting, and one sees a 
number of people who all say that missions are 
good, and that they are glad that men and women 
should be found to employ themselves in them. 
But if a son or a daughter, a sister or brother 



144 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

offers to go, every machinery of entreaty, of 
threat, of endearment is at once put in action to 
stop them. Does a person of any capacity vol- 
unteer, every one says, "You must not goj you 
are useful at home; you are needed here." And 
then, with strange inconsistency, people turn 
round and say, What a very inferior lot of men 
missionaries are! We are an inferior lot, but we 
have put your stay-at-homes to shame; and, poor 
as the instruments have been, their work has been 
great and glorious. But what are you doing 
when you keep back your friends and relatives? 
You keep them back from God. You keep them 
back from a life of usefulness. You keep them 
back from a glorious death. You keep them 
back from a high place in heaven. You rob 
your own family of a special honor. You do 
what in you lies to maintain the devil's kingdom 
untouched, and to stop the progress of the Word 
of God. I have stood by the death-beds of those 
who have given their lives to this great cause, 
and I have been obliged to ask myself whether it 
were worth the sacrifice, and I know that it is. 
Compare this life and death with that When I 
first left England some of my friends bemoaned 
our parting as final, and so it was, not because I 
had died in Africa, but because they died at 
home. One spends his whole life in trying to de- 



DECLAMATIONS. 145 

fer the inevitable end, but it comes. Another 
lives for eternity, and his life is as God wills. 
We know that brave men are not in more real 
danger than cowards are, and so it is in life. 

BISHOP STEEN. 
^3SStx 

25. MISSION OF THE CHUECH. 
The Church has a mighty mission to the world, 
a glorious destiny to accomplish. She has to be 
as the day-spring from on high, to visit them that 
sit in darkness and the shadow of death, to guide 
their feet into the way of peace; she has to ban- 
ish the grim forms of the idols of pagan supersti- 
tion, to unveil the God of truth before the nations; 
she has to abolish the rites of cruelty and death, 
and turn the hope of man to the sacrifice whose 
great character is love; she has to erect pure 
altars, and to call man to them to worship the 
living God which made heaven and earth. Her 
task is to unchain the human intellect, to soften 
and subdue the savage, to fill the earth with arts 
and useful science, to comfort them that mourn, 
to banish vice, to teach men to live and to die, 
and, by leading them to the fountain opened for 
sin and uncleanness, to render them to God and 
heaven cleansed from every stain. 

RICHARD WATSON. 
TO 



I46 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

26. MISSIONS AND COMMERCE. 
We are sometimes told that we are sending 
large sums of money out of the country, and are 
impoverishing it. But look at the facts. In a 
commercial point of view, missions pay. A few 
years ago, the Sandwich Islands were a heathen 
country, with no commercial intercourse with 
other nations. They are now Christianized. 
They have more wants now, and these wants fur- 
nish a market for our productions. They also 
produce more to supply our wants. Last year 
our commerce with the Sandwich Islands 
amounted to $5,000,000. The profit on their 
commerce was $700,000. The total cost of the 
missions which produced this commerce was not 
more than $1,200,000. So you see, two years' 
commerce pays all the cost of Christianizing the 
islands, and leaves a profit of $200,000; and all 
the profits of commerce thereafter are clear gain. 
A similar profit has accrued to England from her 
efforts to Christianize Africa. The Modoc war 
cost $1,000,000; but one-tenth of that sum, spent 
ten years ago in an effort to Christianize the Mo- 
docs, would have prevented, in all human prob- 
ability, the war. All these are only temporal as- 
pects of the case. Of course, the spiritual results 
are the results aimed at in the bestowment and 



DECLAMATIONS. 147 

outlay of missionary money, and these stupend- 
ous results minify all other results. 

DR. REID. 

^S£4S-< 

27. THE OLD GOSPEL COMPLETE. 
The Gospel is an everlasting Gospel. The 
kingdom set up by the God of heaven was never 
to be superseded. The Jewish theocracy was to 
be "shaken," "removed." Christianity is to 
stand forever. As this divine institution makes 
its way throughout the world idolatry gives way. 
Those false religions, venerable with age, and 
that have held millions of souls in abject submis- 
sion, will dissolve into thin air, and disappear as 
clouds before the rising sun. Christianity pos- 
sesses all the requisites of stability. It embodies 
all essential truth. The agencies which Christ him- 
self called into being are adequate to accomplish its 
work. No new religious principles will ever be 
evolved; none of the precepts of Christ will ever be 
dispensed with — none of his injunctions annulled. 
No new sacraments will be instituted, nor will the 
old be essentially modified. No new agency will be 
evoked. In the first age and in every other 
age it hath pleased God by the "foolishness of 
preaching to save them that believe." But how 
can the world believe without a preacher? and 



I48 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

how can they preach unless they be sent? Then 
what wait ye for? Do we expect another prom- 
ise — a new and different baptism? The Church 
already possesses all the appliances necessary for 
the world's conversion. That world, in forge tf ill- 
ness of God, lies stretched out before us. We be 
abundantly able, "let us go up at once and pos- 
sess it." Our authority is ample, our means ade- 
quate. The world is to become obedient to the 
faith, and that through the agencies Christ pro- 
jected at the introduction of his system. While 
the world stands men professing to be called by 
the Holy Ghost will continue to preach the un- 
searchable riches of Christ — baptism will be ad- 
ministered in the triune name, and the elements 
representing the body and blood of Christ dis- 
tributed to the faithful. It is not improbable that 
the last assemblage of men upon the earth will be 
a Christian congregation engaged in worship and 
administering Christian ordinances. 

REV. HOMER S. THRALL. 



28. YOU MUST GO-OR SEND. 
Whom Christ calls not to go, he calls to send. 
And the one class is as much bound as the other. 
If we are not called to go, it is plain enough 



DECLAMATIONS. 149 

that we are called to minister to those who do 
go. "Who goeth," says St. TPaul, "a warfare any 
time at his own charges?" 

An eminent writer says: "As all the disciples 
of Christ are required to take a part in the prop- 
agation of his Gospel throughout the world — 
those who remain at home are bound to sustain 
and minister to those who go abroad, just as much 
as citizens in civil life are bound to support their 
fellow-countrymen who go forth as soldiers to 
fight their country's battles. Therefore, let every 
servant of Christ cheerfully and heartily perform 
that part of the work which may be assigned to 
him in the providence and grace of God, that 
they who sow and they who reap may rejoice to- 
gether." Nothing is plainer: Christ commands 
the Church to evangelize the world. We must 
go — or send. 

DR. A. G. HAYGOOD. 

— >«!m&^ — 

29. THE WORK DONE. 
What a blessed revival of the missionary 
spirit we have observed! The Protestant Church 
has now nearly ten thousand ordained agents 
in the mission field, and more than twice that 
number of native pastors and teachers. The 
Bible has been translated into between one and 



150 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

two hundred languages; and large editions of 
more than one hundred and fifty of these versions 
have been printed at the expense of the British 
and Foreign Bible Society. It is impossible to 
calculate with accuracy the sum of the free-will 
offerings in which missionary zeal finds expres- 
sion; but it is not under a million and a half per 
annum. 

Nor has this labor and this outlay been in vain 
in the Lord. What moral triumphs we have con- 
sidered! what proofs that the Gospel is "the 
power of God to salvation to every one that be- 
lieveth 1" Has it not transformed the savage 
South Sea Islander, the degraded negro, the 
licentious Hindoo, the apathetic Buddhist, the 
proud Parsee, the fanatical Mohammedan, one 
and all, into meek, loving, holy disciples of the 
Son of God? 

Has it not gathered tens of thousands of schol- 
ars to sit at the feet of Jesus in mission schools? 
And has it not called out of heathenism a vast 
host who have already departed to be with Christ ? 
Two hundred and fifty thousand now living in 
Africa, and the same number in Madagascar, 
three hundred thousand in India, and the same 
number in the isles of the Pacific, and hundreds 
of thousands in America and the West Indies, in 
all between one and two millions, are professing 



DECLAMATIONS. 151 

Christians, and a goodly number of them real 
children of God, heirs of God, and joint heirs 
with Christ. What are the lives that have been 
laid down, and the gold that has been given, 
compared with this blessed and glorious result? 
What the toil to the triumph? What the battle to 
this victory? God hath wrought! To him be 
the glory! Let us give thanks and sing unto the 
Lord! His Word is accomplishing its purpose; 
his name is by a larger number each year hal- 
lowed, and his will done on earth. The past fills 
us with hope for the future. Most of the rough, 
difficult pioneering work is done. The ice is 
breaking up. The mission ship is emerging into 
clearer seas. Steady breezes urge her swiftly to- 
wards the haven; and, though there be a vast 
waste of waters yet to traverse, she has proved 
herself seaworthy, and we need have no fears for 
the voyage. 

MACEDONIAN. 

30. ON WHAT MISSION? 
On what mission has Christ sent us? On just 
the same mission as that on which he came him- 
self. It is a mission to the sick in body or in 
mind; a mission to the blind and lame and dying, 
whether physically or spiritually; a mission to 
all who are in pain or sorrow, or oppressed, 



152 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

by Satan; a mission to be like Christ, to do 
what Christ did, to do it by the power of the 
same Spirit which anointed him, and now anoints 
us; a mission to tell of forgiveness of sins, to de- 
clare that heaven's door stands widely open for 
all who will enter in; that an invitation to God's 
eternal kingdom is freely offered to all applicants, 
whatever their lives may have been before; that 
the net is cast into the sea to gather of every 
kind; that the feast is spread for all, and all are 
bidden, bad and good. 

Christ's mission is his mission still, only he 
now works through his members on earth; and 
we brethren are at one with him. No sooner 
does a man become a member than he receives 
this mission. Christ gives him this mission, and 
supports him in it, and gives him power and 
guidance to carry out his plans, and to work for 
him as much as our hands and feet on earth 
work for and obey our head. 

REV. ROBERT CLARK, M. A. 



31. THE WOBTH OP MISSIONS. 
The work of missions is worth to the Church 
not only all that it has cost, but infinitely more. 
And, in saying this, I do not forget what it has 



DECLAMATIONS. 1 53 

cost. I remember the sainted ones, of whom the 
world was not worthy, whose lives have been 
consumed in this sacred cause. I remember their 
sacrifices, the burdens and toils to which they 
have submitted, constrained by their love of 
Christ and their zeal for his kingdom. But when 
I think of the energy and patience and faith, the 
self- forge tfuln ess and self-devotion which the 
Church has shown in her missionary work, pre- 
cious as is the offering, I can not but feel that 
the Church is inexpressibly richer for the grace 
which has permitted her to render it. How her 
faith has been strengthened in the process! How 
her love for Christ, and for souls whom Christ 
has loved, has thereby deepened, and grown more 
absorbing! How Christian hearts have thus been 
knit together, revealing, as in no other way, the 
oneness of the members of Christ's body with each 
other, and with their ever-living Head! What 
new views of the glory of Christ, and the all-suffi- 
ciency of his atonement, and the power of his re- 
newing grace, have thus been beheld by the 
Church, and disclosed to the world! What an 
irrefutable answer to all infidelity, what a tri- 
umphant affirmation of her divine origin and 
claims, does the Church possess in these annals 
of the patience and the faith of her saints! "He 
that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious 



154 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, 
bringing his sheaves with him." The Church is 
richer, incalculably richer, by all her sacrifices. 
The true economy of Christian labor is its widest 
possible diffusion. 

PROFESSOR SEELYE. 



32, CAVILERS, 
Some thoughtless souls say, "The world is 
worse rather than better for Christianity." If any 
man really believe this, let him pack up at once, 
and go out of Christendom into heathendom. 
Let him exchange his mansion for his hut; his 
broadcloth for a skin; his feast of beef and oys- 
ters for the roast of a cannibal; his clean, culti- 
vated Christian wife for the filthy squaw of a sav- 
age; and all the light, intellectual, moral, and 
scientific, that beams around him, for the dark- 
ness of Fijii. 

BISHOP THOMSON. 



33, TRANSFORMING POWER OF THE GOSPEL, 

Look at that island of cannibals. How will 

you civilize them? One says: "Send a farmer, 

with plows and harrows and axes;" another, 

■ "Send a schoolmaster with maps and blackboards 

and blow pipes, to teach them letters;" another, 



DECLAMATIONS. 155 

"Send them a philosopher, to teach them the me 
and not me, and limitation." Alas! they dare not 
land, lest they be clubbed and eaten. Send a 
park of artillery there to defend them. The peo- 
ple would hardly hold still long enough to under- 
stand what they meant. Well, the preacher 
lands with nothing but the language and the Gos- 
pel. He is not clubbed and eaten. He preaches; 
he builds; he plants his Church, around which 
the gardens bloom; and, when he dies, he is not 
roasted and eaten, but laid in a grave, which is 
planted with Toses, and watered each Sabbath 
day with the tears of savages converted to God 
by this ministry of Jesus. 

BISHOP THOMSON. 



34. APATHY OF THE CHURCH, 
The greatest cause of apprehension to the mis- 
sionary enterprise is not opposition, but indiffer- 
ence. This is the chief source of peril and fail- 
ure. If Laodicea be the type of the Churches, 
no wonder the world sneers and perishes. If our 
religion be clad in silken sheen — a patronized 
and fashionable thing, a sort of armorial bearing 
for which men pay small duty either to God or 
man — is it any wonder that men are heedless, or 
fall into the drowsy monotony in which the mes- 



156 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

sengers dream away their lives? The poison trees 
in the field are but little harmful. They are up- 
rooted as soon as they are found out. The bar- 
ren trees which cumber the ground and mock the 
delusive hopes of the husbandman are the curse 
of the vineyard and the field. But, if we are 
idlers, we shall be the only idlers in the universe. 
Every thing around us rebukes our lukewarm and 
traditional piety. Nature is in earnest. Suns are 
tireless in their shining, and rivers in their flow. 
The spring trips up the Winter. The seed-time 
hastens to the harvest. All nature's forces are 
activities, and falter not, any one of them, in the 
fulfillment of the purpose of their being. Error 
is earnest. Pagans are self-devoting. Moham- 
medanism has resolute and valiant sons. Popery 
compasses sea and land to make her proselytes. 
Infidels walk warily and constantly, scattering the 
seeds of unbelief. Society is in earnest. The 
sons of enterprise do not slumber. Warriors hail 
the clarion and rush eagerly to the war. Students 
consume the oil of the lamp and the oil of life 
together. Mammon's votaries are not the lag- 
gards in the streets. All these forces are lashed 
into unwonted activity: while we (God forgive 
us), with the noblest work to do, and with the 
most royal facilities to do it; with the obligation 
of duty and gratitude and brotherhood and God's 



DECLAMATIONS. 1 57 

command; with the vows of discipleship upon us; 
with death at our doors and in our homes, and 
the sad wail of perishing multitudes sounding in 
our ears, "No one hath cared for my soul" — are 
heedless, indifferent, exclusive, and, worst of all, 
as satisfied with our grudged pittance and scanty 
effort and heartless prayer, as if no heathen were 
in peril, and as if no Christ had died. And is it 
really so? Has the mightiest motive lost its 
power at last? Is mammon more potent than 
Messiah? Is the crucifix the source of a holier 
inspiration than the cross? Can war stir men's 
sympathies, and science stimulate their daring, 
and trade intensify their energies, and ambition 
fire their blood, and is Christianity a worn-out 
spell — a memory of forgotten power, an extinct 
volcano, with no fire in its mighty heart? It is 
for you to answer these inquiries. God help you 
to do it right. 

REV. W. MORLEY PUNSHON. 



35, NATURE OF OUR OBLiaATION. 
Our obligation to do our part in the evangel- 
ization of the heathen does not originate in our 
denominational Church memberships. It is not 
simply that as Methodists, or Baptists, or Presby- 
terians we are brought under obligation by our 



158 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

conferences, conventions, or assemblies. If we 
go or decline to go, if we pay or refuse to pay, 
if we pray or neglect to pray for the conversion 
of the heathen, in any case it can not be simply 
a question between us and our highest Church 
authorities. It is a question between us and our 
Lord and King, our Savior Jesus Christ. To do 
our part is to obey Christ; to refuse is to disobey 
Christ; for the obligation grows out of our rela- 
tion to Christ and to our fellow-men. And this 
obligation is measured by the blessing we have 
received from him. What he said to the twelve 
he says to us, "Freely ye have received, freely 
give." His gracious gift is not bestowed on us to 
keep, but to use. Stupendous is the folly, as de- 
served as terrible the punishment, of the unfaith- 
ful — because unbelieving — servant who "hid his 
Lord's money in the earth." A bad use of 
money, that! but no worse than the Gospel only 
enjoyed. The divine word is, "Occupy till I 
come." 

DR. A. G. HAYGOOD. 

— >-<&&&< — 

36. "THE HELD IS THE WORLD." 
When the Lord of the vineyard affirmed that 
the "field is the world," he made it commensu- 
rate with all the generations of our race; and 



DECLAMATIONS. 1 59 

when he appointed all these to be hearers of his 
Word, the appointment involved the means of its 
universal dissemination. These means were puri- 
fied and commissioned men, such as with whom 
it would be congruous for Jesus to abide to the 
end of the world; their implements are the utter- 
ances of Jehovah's mouth; the seed they deposit 
in the moral soil should, in the promised harvest, 
multiply a hundred fold. Though the sowers of 
this seed are mortals, the reapers of the harvest 
shall be angels. Its growth has the long Summer 
of ages, its maturity shall be the world's great 
Autumn. The first shealf of this human harvest 
was taken off Joseph's tomb, the last shall be 
found in the ultimate generation of man, and 
"shall be caught up in the clouds to meet the 
Lord in the air." Then shall the whole harvest 
of the globe be brought to the eternal garner with 
more than earthly shouts; but the sowers and 
reapers employed by the husbandman will meet 
his approval and gain the reward of their 
agency. 

This great harvest, which was sown on various 
soil, which germinated and grew under raging 
storms, shall gain its full maturity beneath a 
broad and cloudless orb glowing in a new 
heaven. 

DR. DEMPSTER. 



l6o MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 



37. APRIOA. 
I make an appeal for the negro race, the most 
unfortunate of the family of man. Abundantly 
has it multiplied; but only to furnish victims to 
the fraud and avarice of other nations. From 
age to age its existence may be traced upon its 
own sunburnt continent; but ages, which have 
produced revolutions in favor of other countries, 
have left Africa still the common plunder of 
every invader who has hardihood enough to ob- 
durate his heart against humanity, to drag his 
lengthened lines of unchained captives through 
the desert, or to suffocate them in the holds of 
vessels destined to carry them away into hopeless, 
foreign, and interminable captivity. It has been 
calculated that Africa has been annually robbed 
of one hundred and fifty thousand of her chil- 
dren. Multiply this by the number of ages 
through which the injury has been protracted, 
and the amount appalls and rends the heart. 
What an accumulation of misery and wrong! 
Which of the sands of her deserts has not been 
steeped in tears, wrung out by the pang of sep- 
aration from kindred and country? What wind 
has passed over her plains without catching up 
the sighs of bleeding or broken hearts? And in 
what part of the world have not her children 






DECLAMATIONS. l6l 

been wasted by labors, and degraded by oppres- 
sions? To oppression has been added insult. 
They have been denied to be men, or deemed 
incorrigible, because physically embruted and im- 
moral. The former I shall not stay to answer. 
Your missionaries have determined that; they have 
dived into that mine from which we were often 
told no valuable ore or precious stone could be 
extracted; and they have brought up the gem of 
an immortal spirit, flashing with the light of intel- 
lect, and glowing with the hues of Christian 
graces, 

RICHARD WATSON. 



38. THIS IS THE DAY OF MISSIONS. 

Foreign missions — the discipling of the na- 
tions to Christ — constitute the one paramount work 
of the Church. "The field is the world" — not 
Palestine nor Asia Minor nor the Roman Empire 
nor the local home of the workers at all. The 
field of the local Church's work is not the parish, 
the town, the city, the State, or the country in 
which it is placed; but every local Church has a 
work in the world-field. 

This is the day of missions. The very word 
is associated with religion. The advantages of 
the time demand corresponding results in the 
work. Science, art, learning, civilization itself, 

ii 



1 62 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

are all laid under tribute to Christianity. Said 
the late foreign secretary to us, when a little com- 
pany of devoted missionaries were floating away 
from the wharf on the deck of a stanch East 
Indiaman — heads bare, handkerchiefs waving, 
hearts in our throats, and tears in our eyes — clap- 
ping us on the shoulder as if a new revelation 
had burst upon him, "Brother, that is what ships 
axe for!" Ah, yes! not to carry merchandise nor 
serve the purposes of trade; not to link nation 
with nation in the interest of material wealth; 
ships are to carry the Gospel to the nations. That is 
God's way of looking at them. So with all the 
advantages of our time — the improved facilities 
for doing the work of life. However men may 
regard them in the interests of the outer life, God 
regards them all in the interests of the heavenly 
kingdom, and would have the Church use them 
all for the furtherance of the Gospel in the earth, 
What the people of God need to be anxious about 
now is, to work fully up abreast with the times. — 
Baptist Missionary Magazine. 



39. UNITY OF OUR RACE. 
This world is singularly one in all its parts. 
Stop a volcano's flood suddenly, and some other 
volcano must throw out its cataracts of fire, even 



DECLAMATIONS. 1 63 

if half a world's diameter distant. Repress a hu- 
man feeling in one place, and it breaks out else- 
where. Liberty throttled in old England makes 
a better new England for itself. Religion perse- 
cuted in Jerusalem goes every-where preaching 
the Word. They may burn John Huss at Con- 
stance, but' the rivers and seas bear his ashes to 
all shores, the seed of a mightier Church. But 
human feeling spreads more rapidly when not 
repressed. Revolutions have no swifter wing than 
reformations. God raised a mightier tide of feel- 
ing at Erfurth by Luther. It swept through the 
state, rolled over whole kingdoms, surged against 
the Alps, inundated the villages that lie far up the 
their slopes, and by some of the passes poured 
into Italy. It reached the northern borders of 
the continent, and flowed across the Channel to 
England. There is a time coming when a nation 
shall be born in a day. It will not be when 
men's utmost spiritual activities are only equal 
to reciting a ritual, or deciding on the cut of a 
garment, but when they can say, "the zeal for 
Thy house hath eaten me up." 

God has made men of one spirit, that they 
may be thus moved. Philosophers have not dis- 
covered this fact. They go round comparing in- 
stinct and reason, considering thickness of skulls 
and color of skins, measuring heads and heels, 






164 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

and sit down in hopeless perplexity. They con* 
fess they can not tell whether man is one or many 
in origin. They know not where the man ends 
and where the animal begins, or, indeed, whether 
there be any thing more than animal. That is 
very true on any such ground of judgment. But 
there is a spirit in man, and the inspiration of the 
Almighty giveth understanding. There is a con- 
sciousness of God — a hope or fear in regard to 
the future in all beings created in the image of 
God. There are harp -strings over which the 
spirit may blow, and they respond with discords 
of unlikeness, with wails of discovered guilt or 
songs of divine harmony. 

DR. WARREN. 

— ^42xj&.« — 

40. LIVE GRANDLY. 
How many thousands, when they come to the 
last scene of time, will regret that they have not 
done more to, and given more money for, the 
amelioration of the condition of the human family! 
The Order of the Brothers of Latrappe, when 
they met in their convocations, greeted each other 
with the salutation, "Brothers, we must die." 
Would it not be a better salutation for Christians 
to give each other, "Brother, we must live!" live 
in deeds of benevolence and usefulness! live in 






DECLAMATIONS. 165 

deeds that will make the wilderness and solitary 
place glad! I wouldsay to young men that in no 
age of the world, in no country, and under no 
form of government, under no system of religion, 
in none of the avocations of life could they find 
a single instance recorded upon the page of his- 
tory where an individual had succeeded in writ- 
ing his name upon the heights of the temple of 
fame, unless he left behind him the unmistakable 
evidences of toil and labor. Christianity with- 
out self-sacrifice and labor is a myth. As we 
must all die, the great problem is to so live that 
we may make the dark and sluggish streams of 
humanity sparkle with life, light, joy, and beauty. 
We can do it, and, failing to do it, we fail to 
discharge our duty to God and our fellow-men. 

The man who goes out into the wilderness, 
and opens it up to commerce and civilization, who 
makes homes and cities where before there was 
nothing but solitude and the savage, is a bene- 
factor to his race ; but the deserts of that descrip- 
tion are as nothing compared with the moral 
wilderness of the world. Missionary operations 
are designed to cure this evil, and it is a glorious 
idea that every dollar spent for the cause of mis- 
sions is productive of lasting benefit. I am afraid 
that the Church is not heeding sufficiently the 
Macedonian cry of the heathen for help and relief 



l66 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

from the superstitions of idolatry. If the Church 
folded its arms and sang, 

"We are out on the ocean sailing, 
To a home beyond the tide," 

I am afraid it will never reach that home; for, 
when the question would be put, " Where is thy 
brother?" we shall be dumb, because of our ina- 
bility to answer. 

HON. HIRAM PRICE. 



41. GOD HAS PROVIDED THE MONEY. 
The usual prosperity of Christians in business, 
and the vast amount of wealth in the hands of 
the Church, show that God's plan for providing 
supplies has thus far been successful. The fact 
can not be questioned, that the Church has in 
possession this day sufficient means to plant the 
Gospel in every nation under heaven. After the 
necessities of home are supplied, we are still 
fully able to meet the demands of God in behalf 
of the world. The requisite ability is not only 
provided for, but is actually possessed. There 
may, indeed, be individual exceptions, but they 
are few; so, also, are particular instances of great 
wealth. The aggregate wealth of the Church is 
widely distributed; and a large portion of Chris- 



DECLAMATIONS. 1 67 

tians in business are blessed in a good degree 
with prosperity and property. For the adequate 
supply of money to God's work, it is only neces- 
sary that all should give liberally according to their 
means. Now, the question of duty is pressed 
upon us for immediate decision. God says, 
"Freely ye have received, freely give." Our ac- 
tion in the premises, both as to its spirit and its 
correspondence with our ability, will constitute 
one of the issues of the final judgment. The 
Lord and Judge of all can never suffer his glori- 
ous work in behalf of the race to be practically 
superseded or temporarily defeated by our mer- 
cenary projects without visiting upon us a just 
and terrible retribution. Hence his charge to the 
rich, and to all as they have the ability, is, "that 
they do good, that they be rich in good works, 
ready to distribute, willing to communicate; lay- 
ing up in store for themselves a good foundation 
against the time to come, that they may lay hold 
on eternal life." If we have buried our Lord's 
money, one talent or ten, we may anticipate our 
doom. Only those who have been faithful with 
either temporal or spiritual gifts will "enter into 
the joy of their Lord." Fearful, indeed, is the 
responsibility we assume if we turn away with 
indifference or niggardly limit our offerings. 

REV. E. A. JOHNSON. 






l68 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 



42. CEKTAINTY OF FINAL SUCCESS. 
This missionary cause is discouraging in some 
of its aspects. It seems to us often that the work 
goes on so slowly, and we wonder that so small 
a portion of the world is yet redeemed from its 
bondage to sin. Of the seventy million souls on 
this American hemisphere, not more than one- 
tenth have been professedly washed in the blood 
of Jesus. Europe, with its two hundred millions, 
is scarcely saved in better proportion. Asia — 
Christ was born there, the cross was planted 
there, its soil is consecrated by the dearest of all 
Christian memories — Asia has a population of five 
hundred and eighty millions, and yet, perhaps, 
not more than sixty thousand true friends of the 
Redeemer. They are scarcely as one against a 
hundred thousand. Africa, long burdened by a 
curse, out of her sixty-five millions, can scarcely 
summon thirty thousand followers of the Lamb. 
We have all seen some maps of this country 
made during the late civil war. That portion of 
country which had remained faithful to the flag 
was represented in fairest colors; that which had 
been reclaimed was a little shaded; that which re- 
mained unconquered was colored as black as night. 
If such a map were to be made to-day of this 
rebellious world it would be all shaded, while by 






DECLAMATIONS. 1 69 

far the greater portion of it would bear that color 
which, on our late war-maps, denoted persistent 
and unconquered rebellion. Yet all this vast ter- 
ritory is to be won to Christ, and conquered to 
the Lord. And not more certainly does the dear 
flag wave over every State than the banner of 
the cross shall be unfurled over every nation of 
this conquered but rejoicing world. 

DR. HARE. 



43. AN APPEAL. 

The fields are white to the harvest. Earnest 
reapers are already gathering rich sheaves. Others 
are waiting to be sent. Providence is removing 
barriers. Middle walls of partition are being 
broken down, so that there is scarce a spot where 
the human foot now treads that is not open to 
the Gospel. But, unless we, and others situated 
as we are, give of what God has given us with 
considerably more than usual liberality, then, in- 
stead of sending more laborers into the vineyard, 
some of those already there must be recalled, 
and the inquiry, ''What must I do to be saved ?" 
be left withering on the lips of thousands, and 
hope dying in their hearts. 

Can we allow all this? Can we who regard 
merely as necessaries of life what a vast majority 



170 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

of the human family would look upon as luxu- 
ries — can we to whom the lines have fallen in 
pleasant places, on whose pathway shines the ac- 
cumulated light of nineteen Christian centuries — • 
we, who confess ourselves not our own, but re- 
deemed with the precious blood of Christ — who 
believe that where much is given much will be 
required — we, who are followers of him who gave 
his life a ransom for all — we, who so often sing, 

" Who suffer with our Master here, 
We shall before his face appear, 
And by his side sit down — " 

can we witness the retreat of ImmanuePs army 
only for want of the funds intrusted to us as the 
stewards of the Lord — of funds concerning which 
we expect to hear the Master say, "Thou hast 
been faithful over a few things, I will make thee 
ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy 
of thy Lord?" 

Do you ask, What can we do? We can, at 
least, pray, as taught us by the Master, "Thy 
kingdom come." We can speak of the wants of 
the world and of the missionary cause to others, 
and infuse into them a measure of the interest we 
feel ourselves. We can give, give, give, till we 
feel it, and until the Church and the world feel 
it, and the moral deserts of the earth are made to 
"rejoice and blossom as the rose." 



DECLAMATIONS. 171 

44. THE GREAT OBJECT OF MISSIONS. 

The legitimate work of Christian missions is 
to bring the world to the knowledge of him whom 
to know is life eternal. Jesus must be revealed. 
Souls must be converted. Children must be 
taught the way of the Lord. Witnesses to the 
truth must be raised up among them; dying testi- 
monies must be heard from the lips of converted 
fathers and mothers, wives and children, who 
have known the truth as it is in Jesus. The mis- 
sionary Church must, emphatically, be a spiritual 
Church, a Church of faith and power, a Holy 
Ghost Church; a radical, aggressive, conquering 
Church; a Church intent on the salvation of 
souls. 

A missionary in India reported that a convert 
wished to be baptized by a Persian name which 
signifies one who sees Jesus. This is precisely the 
business of the Christian Church, to make the world 
see Jesus. 

What shall take the place of the effete heathen- 
ism is the practical question for the Church of 
Christ. To save these deistical thinkers — these 
corrupt masses — we must have a pure and pow- 
erful Gospel. 

DR. A. C GEORGE. 



172 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

45. OUR SYMPATHY AND BENEVOLENCE WORLD-WIDE. 
Have we no debt of gratitude to pay? Does 
our conscience or our Bible say, Keep your spir- 
itual blessings and your money for your own use? 
No. But, says some Christian, "Charity begins 
at home;" and when my neighbors are all con- 
verted, and when my country is redeemed, then 
it will be time enough to go into the foreign field. 
But if it begins and ends at home it is very far 
from being Christian charity. A true charity, 
which is Christ-like, begins at home, and runs out 
through various channels of benevolence to every 
part of the earth. Christ lived and labored in 
Palestine. At Jerusalem he offered up his life to 
atone for sin. But upon his heart of love he 
bore not only his own countrymen, but the entire 
posterity of Adam. A charity which is Christ- 
like will labor personally in a given locality, but 
it will also encompass the world. A true Chris- 
tian, by his prayers and his money, may efficiently 
preach the Gospel in the darkest corner of the 
earth, thousands of miles from him. Christ said, 
"The field is the world." To be a Christian in 
the fullest sense, this fact must never be lost sight 
of. His philanthrophy must embrace all nations 
and tribes of men. His benevolence must be so 
full, so comprehensive, and so broad as to lose 



DECLAMATIONS. 1 73 

sight of self, of home, of national boundaries, 
embracing every race, kindred, and tongue. In 
short, self must be immolated upon the Christian 
altar of love; and then, and not till then, will it 
be godlike: for "God so loved the world that he 
gave his only begotten Son." 

DR. S. T. ANDERSON. 



46. GOD INTENDS THE EVANGELIZATION OF THE WORLD. 
Friends of Christian missions, there is no 
room for doubt that God intends the evangeliza- 
tion of the world. That system of mercy which 
he inaugurated by the gift of his dear Son has 
proved itself a scheme of conquest; and this 
proof, in the course of its history, combines with 
the promise of God himself to inspire in our 
hearts the conviction that it shall go forward in 
its career until it attains to universal dominion. 
Nor is there any room to doubt that this scheme 
is to be carried forward, so far as visible agency 
is concerned, by means of men. There will be no 
new tongues of fire, no new flight of angels, no 
new Pentecost, no new chapters added to the 
Word of God. When John laid down his pen, 
the canon of Scripture was complete; when the 
Holy Ghost descended on the day of Pentecost, 
the last best dispensation of God's grace in the 



174 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

world was fully inaugurated. Christ's great com- 
mission, uttered just before he ascended, is the 
permanent, unrepealable marching order of his 
people in every age that is to come; and by the 
fulfillment of that command, "Go ye into all 
the world, and preach the Gospel to every creat- 
ure," the conquest of the world is to be made. 

BISHOP CYRUS D. FOSS. 
o-Gf4S-« 

47, OUR ASSURANCE OF SUCCESS. 
I have said nothing of obstacles, for to our 
God obstacles are nothing; I have said little of 
discouragements, for God is never discouraged. 
He has set himself to renew this world, and he 
will renew it. It is not for us to say or ask when; 
it is only for us to see that we have a part in the 
work. Not only we ourselves, but the years as 
they pass, the centuries as they roll, the ages as 
they sweep onward, all the works and the Spirit 
of the eternal God, are fighting our battles. Our 
God himself is our assurance of success. What 
need have we, then, to concern ourselves about 
any thing but our work? It is enough for us to 
see that we bear our part in it, and win our 
honors by personal devotion to this cause. When 
God crowns it with triumph, if we have been 
found faithful our glory will come. It will be 



DECLAMATIONS. 1 75 

glory enough to have been found faithful to this 
cause. We shall reap in the future, but now it is 
ours to sow and to water the hidden seed. 

DR. HARE. 



48. THE TRUE MISSIONARY SPIRIT, 
Does the missionary spirit consist in simple 
liberality, in the contribution of money? I rejoice, 
I exceedingly rejoice, in our increased and con- 
stantly increasing collections in this behalf; and 
yet, let me say just at this point and in this con- 
nection, that it does not follow that because an 
individual may give one hundred dollars, a thou- 
sand dollars, or even ten thousand dollars, to this 
best of all enterprises, that, therefore, his heart is 
all aflame with missionary zeal. That same indi- 
vidual may deny the Church his best talents, or 
the community around his spiritual energy, or the 
heathen abroad his sons and daughters, who would 
go to unfurl the blood-stained banner even in the 
ends of the earth, and he may spend most of his 
time in spiritual idleness. Shall we, then, con- 
found mere liberality, which may be intended, 
perhaps, to quiet an uneasy conscience, or even 
to purchase immunity from other labor, with the 
missionary spirit? As it occurs to us, this would 
be to err most egregiously. The question, then, 



176 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

might occur, What is the missionary spirit? Is it 
an ordinary interest in, or a kind of general con- 
cern for, the heathen abroad and the heathen at 
home? a cold and calculating love for those mill- 
ions that have so long, too long, lingered in the 
shadow of sin and of death? No; such a spirit 
as that would never convert the world — has never 
illustrated itself as the secret spring or motive 
power of self-sacrificing and successful endeavor 
in this world. There must be love, it is true, but 
then let us remember it must be love on fire; it 
must be love in a paroxysm; it must be love in- 
tensified, absorbing, all-controlling. Observe, if 
you please, the missionary quitting his home, kin- 
dred, native land, and accustomed comforts. He 
is willing to abide in the ends of the earth, en- 
compassed by heart-sickening idolatrous supersti- 
tion and crime. Wherefore? Is it because of a 
simple concern respecting the temporal, or even 
spiritual welfare of those by whom he may be 
encompassed? No; I insist it is rather because 
of the Christ-given and Christ-like love that burns 
in his heart and literally consumes his life. Oh, 
it is the missionary spirit that crosses broad seas, 
that clambers cloud-crowned mountains, that trav- 
erses far distant regions, that sails around the 
world if it may save but a single soul. It is the 
missionary spirit that breathes miasmas, that bears 






DECLAMATIONS. 177 

heavy burdens, that challenges adversaries, that 
imperils precious life, that laughs at impossibili- 
ties, and cries, "This must and this shall be 
done." It is the missionary spirit that gives and 
bears sacrifices, and dies, if it were necessary and 
if it were possible, a hundred thousand deaths, 
if, like its Divine Exemplar, it might be going 
about doing good. Now, as I said, there may be 
liberality, but there can not be the missionary 
spirit where there is not a conscientious, Christ- 
like liberality. 

REV. ALFRED COOKMAN. 



49. MOVE FORWARD THE COLUMN. 
It is time to abandon this temporizing experi- 
mental policy. "The time to favor Zion, yea, 
the set time, has come." We stand at present as 
the Israelites stood upon the banks of a dividing 
sea. Had Moses stopped to consider the danger 
of drowning, or the strength of Pharaoh's army, 
he would have perished. But he seized the rod 
and ordered the hosts forward. The Church 
should lay the hand of faith upon "the rod of 
his strength," and a way would be opened into 
the very heart of heathendom. The arm of the 
Lord would be uncovered, and all flesh would 
soon see the salvation of our God. Do we still 

12 



I78 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

hesitate to go forward and fear the issue? Think 
of Caleb and Joshua. See the waters of Jordan 
divide, and the walls of Jericho tumble! Let the 
Church but husband her resources, use her power, 
exercise her faith, and the conversion of the world 
is an assured event. Standing, like Moses, upon 
the top of a prophetic Pisgah, we see the prom- 
ised state of blessedness. The clouds are break- 
ing, the morning dawns, the day of the world's 
redemption draweth near. Surely, at such a 
time, those to whom God has given the means 
will hasten to unlock their hoarded treasures. 
Our currency will suddenly become an evangel; 
our gold and silver eagles, let loose from their 
confinement in strong boxes and inaccessible 
vaults, will come out stamped with "the image 
and superscription " of a new proprietorship, and 
will fly upon messages of mercy to the most re- 
mote and darkest regions of heathenism. 

REV. HOMER S. THRALL. 
— &*&&»< 

50, INFIDELS NOT MISSIONARY. 
Christian friends, after all their proud vaunt- 
ing, pray tell me what heathen shores have infi- 
dels ever visited for purposes of mercy? What 
funeral pyre have they ever extinguished? What 
dumb idol have they ever cast down from its 



DECLAMATIONS. 1 79 

pedestal? What nation have they ever lifted Up 
from its barbarism and degradation? What profli- 
gate have they ever reclaimed? What sorrowful 
hearts have they ever cheered? Where are their 
earnest, self-sacrificing missionaries ? Where are or- 
ganizations for the amelioration of human suffering 
and the extension of wholesome and blessed truth 
in the world? Where are their Pauls, their Barna- 
bases, their Wesley s, Wilberforces, Thomas Cokes, 
Asburys, Howards, Phoebes, Dorcases, Nightingales, 
and Elizabeth Frys? I ask it with confidence and 
with Christian exultation. In vain I wait for an 
answer — there cometh none. We must come to 
Christ; we must drink in his Spirit, for it is there, 
and there only, we will find the source and the 
fountain of this missionary spirit which is so need- 
ful and so indispensable. The theory and prac- 
tice of missions, as I take it, can be expressed 
almost in a single sentence. It is love to the 
blessed Lord Jesus Christ, who has bought us 
with his blood, drawing forth the stream of 
human sympathy, human affection, and human 
endeavor — a stream which, by an invariable law 
of nature and of God, seeks the lowest place — 
for let me say to you that Christian compassion, 
like Christ's compassion, always flows downward, 
and fixes upon those who need it the most. Was 
it not so with Paul? The love of Christ con- 



l8o MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

strained him, and he counted not his life dear 
unto him so that he might but glorify his Savior, 
propagate his Gospel, save immortal souls, and 
finish his course with joy. 

REV. ALFRED COOKMAN. 

— >«3e®*-» — 

51. HOME DEMAND. 
Glance with scrutiny at the superstition of 
the semi-paganized Catholic, at the midnight 
gloom of the pagan Chinese, and the reckless 
audacity of avowed infidelity. The aggregate of 
these classes are counted by millions; they throng 
our cities; they are diffused over our rural dis- 
tricts; they must absorb or be absorbed; they 
must make us like themselves, or themselves be 
made like us. What, then, is our Gospel provis- 
ion to secure this assimilation? The living mass 
in our great metropolis swells to more than half a 
million. Our pulpits there do not exceed two hun- 
dred and fifty, conveying the Gospel to not more 
than one in five — to a proportion unequal to our 
native population. But if four-fifths lie out of the 
sphere of Gospel influences in that most favored 
city, what must be the condition of those less 
favored — those stretching over the vast space be- 
tween the most Eastern cities and the Pacific 



DECLAMATIONS. l8l 

Ocean? Can the Church vindicate her policy in 
so sparsely manning these centers of population? 
Can there be any foreign interest competing with 
that of those millions perishing at our very door? 

DR. DEMPSTER. 



52. THE RELIGION OF JESUS ADAPTED TO ALL HEARTS, 
" How shall man be just with God?" is a ques- 
tion asked in all lands. The cross of Christ is 
the only answer. If we get beneath the surface 
of peculiar customs, which are widely different, 
we shall find in all countries heart experiences 
much alike. God hath made of one blood all 
nations. Beneath the Persian, the Chinaman, the 
Hindoo, the Sandwich Islander, and the Ameri- 
can is the man. This man has sinned, and needs 
a Savior. Paul argued that what the Gospel did 
for him, it could do for others — Jew and Gentile. 
The logic is this: If the religion of Jesus Christ 
can save a single soul from the guilt and power 
of sin, it can take the world. If we can sing: 

" He breaks the power of cancelled sin, 
He sets the prisoner free, 
His blood can make the foulest clean, 
His blood availed for me," 

we can translate it into every tongue, and from 
all lands will rise the song of redemption. 



1 82 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

The question is not, How many has Jesus 
saved? but How has he saved? It is to the 
uttermost! And the glory of his religion has 
been that "the blood of Jesus Christ his Son 
cleanseth us from all sin." There is efficacy to 
the blood because divine. Jesus is "Lord of 
lords and King of kings," therefore in his struggle 
against the powers of darkness he shall overcome. 
Our foes are mighty, but our Savior is mightier. 

REV. S. H. ADAMS. 



53. HONOR THE LORD WITH THY SUBSTANCE 
Hear ye now, ye rich men; . . . this 
commandment is for you. God, your Creator, 
says the silver and the gold are all his, but for 
reasons known only to himself he has intrusted 
some of it for a short time to you. Your own 
Redeemer placed it as a sacred deposit in your 
hands; and whenever he calls for the whole or 
for any part of it, he expects, and has a right to 
expect, that his drafts will be cheerfully honored. 
Whether the call be now from him, whether the 
bill now presented really bear his signature, you 
yourselves must determine. Your own precious 
Redeemer, who poured out his own soul unto 
death to save yours, has such confidence in your 
fidelity that you have the honor of his first call. 



DECLAMATIONS. 1 83 

His first drafts are on you; and surely not for 
worlds would you have his confidence in your 
Christian integrity shaken. 

DR. GOODELL. 



64. THE HEATHEN AFRICAN MOTHER AT HER DAUGH- 
TER'S GRAVE. 

[Some of the pagan Africans visit the burial places of their de- 
parted relatives with offerings of food and drink. Mothers have 
been known for a long course of years to bring, in agony of grief, 
this annual oblation to their children's grave.] 

"Daughter, I bring thee food — 

The rice-cake pure and white; 
The cocoa with its milky blood, 

Dates and pomegranates bright, 
The orange in its gold, 

Fresh from the favorite tree; 
Nuts in their brown and husky fold, 

Dearest, I spend for thee. 

Year after year I tread 

Thus to thy low retreat; 
But now the snow-hairs mark my head, 

And age enchains my feet; 
Oh, many a change of woe 

Hath dimmed thy spot of birth, 
Since first my gushing tears did flow 

O'er this thy bed of earth. 



184 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

There came a midnight cry; 

Flames from our hamlet rose; 
A race of pale-brow'd men were nigh — 

They were our country's foes: 
Thy wounded sire was borne 

By tyrant force away — 
Thy brothers from our cabin torn, 

While bathed in blood I lay. 

I watched for their return 

Upon the rocky shore, 
Till night's red planet ceased to burn, 

And the long rains were o'er; 
Till seed, their hand had sown, 

A ripening fruitage bore: 
The billows echoed to thy moan, 

But they returned no more. 

Yet thou art slumbering deep, 

And to my wildest cry, 
When vexed with agony I weep, 

Dost render no reply; 
Daughter^! my youthful pride, 

The idol of my eye — 
Why dost thou leave thy mother's side, 

Beneath these sands to lie?" 

Christians! ye hear the cry 
From heathen Afric's strand — 



DECLAMATIONS. 185 

Haste ! lift salvation's banners high, 

O'er that benighted land; 
With faith that claims the skies, 

Her misery control; 
And plant the hope that never dies, 

Deep in her tear-wet soul. 

Long o'er the hopeless grave, 

Where her lost darling slept, 
Invoking gods that could not save, 

That pagan mother wept; 
O for some voice of power 

To soothe her bursting sighs — 
There is a resurrection hour; 

Thy daughter's dust shall rise, 

MRS. SIGOURNEY. 



55. JESUS SHALL BE UNIVERSAL KItfQ. 
Across the blue waters the message of grace 
O'er kingdom and empire is flying apace; 
The day-beam is breaking, majestic and bright, 
And millions are turning from darkness to light. 

All creatures adoring shall bow at his Word, 
All tongues shall confess him their Savior and Lord; 
His truth and its glory extended shall be, 
And cover the earth as the waters the sea. 






1 86 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

How gently and kindly there comes from above 
His scepter of mercy, his standard of love! 
He ruleth in wisdom, the Monarch of peace, 
His reign shall be glorious and never shall cease. 

The day is approaching, the time draweth nigh, 
When nation to nation "Hosanna!" shall cry. 
The idols they worship in dust shall be laid, 
And Jesus be honored, exalted, obeyed. 

FANNY J. CROSBY. 

— *-<&&*< — 

56. PILGRIM'S MISSION. 
Listen! the Master beseecheth. 

Calling each one by his name, 
His voice to each loving heart reacheth, 

Its cheerfulest service to claim. 
Go where the vineyard demandeth 

Vinedressers' nurture and care, 
Or go where the white harvest standeth, 

The joy of the reaper to share. 

Seek those of evil behavior, 

Bid them their lives to amend; 
Go point the lost world to the Savior, 

And be to the friendless a friend. 
Still be the lone heart of anguish 

Sooth'd by the pity of thine; 
By way-side, if wounded ones languish, 

Go pour in the oil and the wine. 






DECLAMATIONS. 1 87 

Work, tho' the enemies' laughter 

Over the valleys may sweep, 
For God's patient workers hereafter 

Shall laugh when the enemies weep. 
Ever on Jesus reliant, 

Press on your chivalrous way, 
The mightiest Philistine giant 

His Davids are chartered to slay. 

Work for the good that is nighest, 

Dream not of greatness afar: 
That glory is ever the highest, 

Which shines upon men as they are. 
Work, though the world would defeat you; 

Heed not its slander and scorn; 
Nor weary till angels shall greet you 

With smiles through the gates of the morn. 

Offer thy life on the altar; 

In the high purpose be strong; 
And if the tired spirit should falter, 

Then sweeten thy labor with song. 
What if the poor heart complaineth, 

Soon shall its wailing be o'er; 
For there in the rest which remaineth, 

It shall grieve and be weary no more. 

REV. W. MORLEY PUNSHON. 



1 88 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 



57, NOT SO EASY, 
Now, you may think it very nice, 

And easy, too, — the same, 
For a little boy {or girl) to stand up here 

The mission cause to proclaim. 

But I can tell you, one and all, 

Whichever way you view it, 
To face the people here to-night, 

It takes some pluck to do it. 

The saying is as true as old, 
Who gets a name must buy it; 

If you don't credit what I say, 
Just walk up here and try it. 

ANONYMOUS. 



58. OUR MISSION FIELD AT HOME. 
How many in our favored land, 

God's holy day profane — 
Neglect the Savior's gracious call, 

And take his name in vain. 
Then while we pray for heathen climes 

Far o'er the crystal foam, 
O let us ever bear in mind 

Our mission field at home. 



DECLAMATIONS. 1 89 

"Go feed my lambs," our Saviour said, 

"And bring them to my fold; 
For us the same command is given 

As then to him of old; 
While others toil for dying souls, 

Far o'er the oceans's foam, 
Be ours to serve this noble cause, 

Our mission field at home. 

How many a poor neglected child, 

With pleading eyes we meet! 
A gentle word might hither guide 

Its little wandering feet. 
A precious lamb that God may bless, 

Beneath this hallowed dome; 
Then let us ever bear in mind 

Our mission field at home. 

FANNY J. CROSBY. 

^$2Sf>~J 

59. WHAT OF THE NIGHT? 

"What of the night?" the watchers said; 
"What of the night?" the echo sped 
Swift as the sound of a sentinel's call, 
Answering back from wall to wall. 
Who are these, with their lamps a-trim, 
Waiting the bridegroom's far-off hymn, 
Watching and waiting for the day? 
Who are the watchers, who, I pray? 



190 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

Oat from the heat of the torrid zone, 
From the buried heart of a Livingstone; 
Out from the tropics, far and wide, 
Over the land, and over the tide; 
Out from the frozen arctic's reign, 
Quickly the answer came again, 
"We are watchers, help, we pray, 
Lo, there are signs of the coming day!" 

Send them an answer deep and low, 
"We are watching and waiting too;" 
Send them an answer loud and long, 
"We are coming a million strong, — 
Coming with lives and coming with gold, 
Coming with treasures yet untold, 
Coming with shout and coming with psalm, 
Coming to win the victor's palm." 

Should we withhold a daughter's hand, 
If sought by the heir of a far-famed land? 
Should we the strength of our sons withhold, 
If the lead they followed was rich in gold? 
Would ease or pleasure our motto be, 
If a crown were waiting for you and me? 

Lo, there are signs in the eastern sky, 

And the hill-tops flame afar! 
See how the frightened shadows fly 

From the light of the morning star! 



DECLAMATIONS. 191 

But there are caverns deep and lone, 

Wild jungle and beasts of prey, 
Paths that are flinty, and pillows of stone, 

And no ladder adown the way. 

But the path was trodden and made complete, 

Full many a year ago; 
And the centuries followed with lagging feet 

For the pulse of the world was low. 
But now it quickens; and into birth 

A nation springs in a day, 
And thought goes flashing around the earth 

As quick as the lightnings play. 

The hearts of the nations are closer now, 

The serf is nearer the throne; 
And we at a common altar* bow, 

For the children of God are one. 

But the hosts of right and the hosts of wrong, 
Are marshaling quick and sharp and strong; 
And though the battle be fierce and long, 
We yet shall join in the victor's song. 
For truth is mighty, and truth will win; 
And the Son of the Highest shall enter in; 
And the world shall be ransomed from death 
and sin. 

MRS. S. B. HERRICK. 



192 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

60. THE PENNY HE MEANT TO GIVE. 
There's a funny tale of a stingy man 

Who was none too good, but might have been 
worse ; 
Who went to his church on a Sunday night, 
And carried along his well-filled purse. 

When the sexton came with his begging-plate, 
The church was but dim with the candle's light; 

The stingy man fumbled all through his purse, 
And chose a coin by touch, and not by sight. 

It 's an odd thing, now, that guineas should be 
So like unto pennies in shape and size : 

"I'll give a penny," the stingy man said. 

"The poor must not gifts of pennies despise." 

The penny fell down with a clatter and ring, 
And back in his seat leaned the stingy man. 

"The world is so full of the poor!" he thought; 
"I can't help them all; I give what I can." 

Ha, ha! how the sexton smiled, to be sure, 
To see the gold guinea fall into his plate; 
Ha, ha! how the stingy man's heart was wrung, 

Perceiving his blunder, but just too late ! 
"No matter," he said; "in the Lord's account 
That guinea of gold is set down to me. 



DECLAMATIONS. 193 

They lend to him who give to the poor; 
It will not so bad an investment be." 

"No, no, man," the chuckling sexton cried out; 

"The Lord is not cheated; he knows thee well; 
He knew it was only by accident 

That out o* thy fingers the guinea fell. 

"He keeps an account, no doubt, for the poor; 

But in that account he'll set down to thee 
No more of that golden guinea, my man, 

Than the one bare penny you meant to gie." 

There 's a comfort, too, in the little tale, 

A serious side as well as a joke ; 
A comfort for all the generous poor, 

In the comical words the sexton spoke. 

A comfort to think that the good Lord knows 
How generous we really desire to be, 

And will give us credit in his account 
For all the pennies we long to "gie." 

H. H.) in St. Nicholas. 



61. THE HINDOO AND NEW ZEALANDER. 
A Hindoo, from his ancient faith, 

Converted to the Lord, 
Took ship to try an ocean path, 
A stranger soul on board. 
13 



194 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

From far New Zealand's isle was one 

Amid the vessel's crowd, 
Who loved and worshiped God alone, 

Though once to idols bowed. 

They met, the two from lands apart, 
Nor knew they sign or sound 

To wake response from heart to heart; 
In silence each was bound. 

Yet something drew them each to each, 

Some impulse undefined; 
A chasm with no bridge of speech ; 

Mind looked across to mind. 

It chanced within the great saloon 

They saw a Bible lie 
Upon a table near, and soon 

Eye flashed its glance to eye. 

They knew the book, the story told 

Of Jesus and his love; 
And they were members of his fold, 

And heirs of realms above. 

Above the book, with clasp of hands, 
And tearful eyes they stood; 

Two lonely hearts from distant lands, 
In joy of brotherhood. 

Then "Alleluia," spake the one; 
"Amen," the other said; 



DECLAMATIONS. I95 

And there was rapture in each tone, 
And heart by heart was read. 

And chains of love bound soul to soul, 

Two brothers on the sea; 
Two hearts that beat with one control, 

By perfect love made free. 

When shall the "Alleluia" tell 

One kindred and one race? 
When shall the rising rapture swell 

"Amen" in every place? 

When shall the "Alleluia" shout 

Be known in every clime? 
When shall the loud "Amen" ring out 

O'er all the paths of time; — 

When stranger, meeting stranger far, 

On distant ocean's foam, 
Wherever led by fortune's star, 

Shall feel himself at home; — 

When "Alleluia" every-where, 

A talismanic word, 
Shall bind all hearts in love and prayer, 

One people of the Lord; — 

When this shall be the glad response, — 

"Amen," the wide world o'er; 
Brothers in Christ, who suffered once, 

And reigns for evermore ? 

DWIGHT WILLIAMS. 



196 MISSIONARY CONCERTS- 

62. HOME MISSION HYMN. 

God of the snow-capped mountain 

And rolling desert plain, 
God of the crystal fountain 

And broad Pacific main, 
Bend thou in tender pity, 

Where sin and want have trod 
Through forest, vale, and city, 

Calling aloud for God. 

Send thou an angel vision 

To sever every chain, 
Lead forth from every prison 

Thy sons to light again. 
Help us to bear thy banner — 

Its blood-red cross unfurled ; 
Help us to wake hosanna 

In echoes round the world. 

Where'er thy children tarry, 

Dear Savior, there abide; 
Where'er they till the prairie, 

Or mine the mountain side, — 
Where sin at night and morning 

Flaunts fearless to and fro, 
Flash out thy noontide sunshine 

To scatter every woe. 

So all our land in praising 
Shall swell its tide of song, 



DECLAMATIONS. 197 

And glorious strains upraising 

Shall float the waves along; 
Till every mourning daughter 

In lands beyond the sea 
Catches it on the water, 

And sends it back to thee. 

MISS M. E. WINSLOW. 



63. PRATER POR MISSIONARIES. 
Millions there are on heathen ground 
Who never heard the Gospel's sound; 
Lord, send it forth, and let it run, 
Swift and reviving as the sun. 

Guide thou their lips, who stand to tell 
Sinners the way that leads from hell ; 
To those who give, do thou impart 
A generous, wise, and tender heart. 

Lord, crown their zeal, reward their care, 
That in thy grace they all may share; 
And those who now in darkness dwell, 
Deliverance sing from guilt and hell. 

64. UNTO HIM SHALL THE GATHERING OP THE PEOPLE BE. 
Let each voice now sound the slogan ; 

Let none halt, give up, or tire; 
But let every word go burning, 

As from off a tongue of fire. 



I98 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

Gather from the field and forest, 

And from poverty's abode, 
From those halls where wealth and pleasure 

Are with lavish hand bestowed. 

O, upon the sacred pulpit 
May a prophet's fire descend. 

Till the doctrine that it teaches 
Shall be either "Go," or "Send;" 

Till its heavenly flame illumines 

Every dark, benighted soul, 
And around this globe salvation 

In one ceaseless stream shall roll; 

Till its notes, so sweet and cheering, 

Play along the far-off sky, 
Lifting human hopes up yonder, 

Where we nevermore may die. 

O, let every voice that utters 
Warning, mingled with appeal, 

Be in sweet accord with Zion, 
And the holy unction feel. 

Onward speed its holy mission 
Till opposing flags be furled, 

Till the blood-besprinkled banner 
Floats in triumph 'round the world. 

j. T. SMITH. 



DECLAMATIONS. 1 99 



65. HOME MISSIONARY HYMN. 
Saints of God,* the dawn is brightening, 

Tokens of our coming Lord; 
O'er the earth the field is whitening; 
Louder rings the Master's Word — 

" Pray for reapers 
In the harvest of the Lord." 

Feebly now they toil in sadness, 
Weeping o'er the waste around, 

Slowly gath'ring grains of gladness, 
While their echoing cries resound — 

"Pray that reapers 
In God's harvest may abound." 

Now, O Lord, fulfill thy pleasure; 

Breathe upon thy chosen band; 
And, with pentecostal measure, 

Send forth reapers o'er our land — 
Faithful reapers, 

Gath'ring sheaves for thy right hand. 

Ocean calleth unto ocean, 

Spirits speed from shore to shore 

Heralding the world's commotion; 
Hear the conflict at our door — 

Mighty conflict — 
Satan's death-cry on our shore! 



200 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

Broad the shadow of our nation ; 

Eager millions hither roam ; 
Lo, they wait for thy salvation ; 

Come, Lord Jesus, quickly come; 
By thy Spirit 

Bring thy ransomed people home. 

Soon shall end the time of weeping, 
Soon the reaping time will come; 

Heaven and earth together keeping 
God's eternal harvest home ; 

Saints and angels 
Shout the world's great harvest home. 

"A LADY OF VIRGINIA. 



66. THE LOST AT HOME. 
Upon these lands where "heathen rage" 

O Lord our God, look kindly down; 
But be entreated, Lord, we pray, 

To save the sinking in our own. 

Inspire thy servants with a zeal 

To labor for the lost at home, 
And gather to thy fostering fold 

The wayward sheep and lambs that roam. 

In reeking slum, and purlieu vile, 
On prairies wide, and wild frontier, 



DECLAMATIONS. 201 

Help us, O Father, there to seek 

The lost, and teach them in thy fear. 

Help us with holy zeal and strength 
The yoke of carelessness to break, 

And Satan's strongholds every-where 
By faith to overthrow and take. 

Speed on thy work, till all shall know 
Their sins on earth by grace forgiv'n, 

And Jesus Christ shall reign below, 
And earth become the type of heaven. 

REV. J. MILTON AKERS. 



67. THE GOSPEL SUMMONS. 
Hark ! hark ! a shout of joy ! 

The world, the world is calling; 
In East and West, in North and South, 

See Satan's kingdom falling. 

Wake! wake! the Church of God, 

And dissipate thy slumbers; 
Shake off thy deadly apathy, 

And marshal all thy numbers. 

Trust, trust the faithful God; 

His promise is unfailing; 
The prayer of faith can pierce the skies; 

Its breath is all-prevailing. 



202 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

Look! look! the fields are white; 

And stay thy hands no longer; 
Though Satan's mighty legions fight, 

The arm of God is stronger. 

See ! see ! the cross is raised ; 

The crescent droops before it; 
The pagan nations feel its power, 

And prostrate ranks adore it. 

Joy! joy! the Savior reigns; 

See prophecy fulfilling; 
The hearts of stubborn Jews relent, 

In God's own time made willing. 

Pray! pray! then, Christian, pray; 

Though faint, be yet pursuing, 
And cease not, day by day, the prayer 

Of lively faith renewing. 

Soon, soon your waiting eyes 
Shall see the heavens rending, 

And rich and richer blessings still 
From God's bright throne descending. 

68. DAW1OTG- OF THE LATTER DAT. 
Look, ye saints! the day is breaking; 

Joyful times are near at hand; 
God, the mighty God, is speaking 

By his Word in every land ; 



DECLAMATIONS. 203 

Day advances — 
Darkness flies at his command. 

While the foe becomes more daring, 

While he enters like a flood, 
God, the Savior, is preparing 

Means to spread his truth abroad; 
Every language 

Soon shall tell the love of God. 

God of Jacob, high and glorious ! 

Let thy people see thy power ; ' 
Let the Gospel be victorious, 

Through the world for evermore. 
Then shall idols 

Perish, while thy saints adore. 

KELLY. 



69, THE KEIGN OF CHRIST. 
Wake the song of jubilee, 
Let it echo o'er the sea! 
Now hath come the promised hour; 
Jesus reigns with sovereign power. 

All ye nations! join and sing, — 
" Christ of lords and kings is King!" 
Let it sound from shore to shore, — 
" Jesus reigns for evermore!" 



204 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

Now the desert lands rejoice, 
And the islands join their voice; 
Yea, the whole creation sings, — 
" Jesus is the King of kings!" 



BACON. 



70. HOME MISSION HYMN. 
O God of Israel, 't was thy hand 

That brought our fathers to these shores, 
And gave them here a goodly land 

Of. fertile soil and precious ores. 

The wilderness subdued brings forth 
Its buds and blossoms like the rose ; 

From East to West, from South to North, 
The tide of life and blessings flows. 

And still from every land they come, 
The sons of sorrow, want, and care, 

To find with us a peaceful home, 
And in our wondrous mercies share. 

O grant to all these millions, Lord, 
The light of thy life-giving face; 

The preaching of thy blessed Word, 

The Church, and all the means of grace. 

To all thy heralds strength impart, 
To seek and save their fellow men, 

On boundless plain, in busy mart, 
On mountain top, in lowly glen. 



DECLAMATIONS. 205 

Hearts, hands, and purses, Lord, are thine : 
Open them all, inflame our zeal, 

And with the showers of grace divine 
Our labors bless, our counsels seal. 

DR. E. F. HATFIELD. 



71. AN ARGUMENT POR HOME MISSIONS. 
Behind the squaw's light birch canoe, 

The steamer rocks and raves; 
The city lots are staked for sale 

Above the Indian graves. 
I hear the tread of pioneers, 

Of nations yet to be; — 
The first low wash of waves where soon 

Shall roam a human sea. 
The rudiments of empire here 

Are plastic yet and warm; 
The chaos of a mighty world 

Is rounding into form. 

WHITTIER. 

72. SO MUCH TO DO. 
So much to do, and life so brief 

And full of care; 
So many souls in sin and grief, 

That need our prayer. 



206 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

So many hearts that ours may cheer 

And aid and love; 
So many burdened ones to bear 

In faith above. 

So many spirits unprepared 

To meet their God ; 
So many tempted souls ensnared 

Where we have trod. 

So much to do and feel and pray 

In this short life ; 
So many inward foes to slay, 

Ere ends its strife. 

Who is sufficient, Lord, for this, 

His earthly task? 
We in our own unworthiness 

And meekness ask. 

Lord, 't is thy work and thou wilt give 

The grace we need; 
Help us to trust each hour we live, 

And watch and plead. 

JULIA CARRIE THOMPSON. 



73. CHILDREN IN HEATHEN LANDS. 
I often think of heathen lands, 
Where high the pagan temple stands, 
Far, far away; 



DECLAMATIONS. 207 

And there each hapless child is led 
To bow to idol gods his head, 
While many mutt'ring charms are said, 
Far, far away ! 

Oh, how I pity children there, — 
Although the clime be passing fair, 

Far, far away; 
I would not leave my native home, 
In fields of richest fruit to roam, 
If there no Gospel light should come, — 

Far, far away ! 

But I will pray that God may send — 
Glad tidings of my Savior Friend — 

Far, far away; 
And every little I can spare 
Shall help to send the Bible there, 
And men of God the truth to bear 

Far, far away! 

And when the silver trumpet swells 
And all the love of Jesus tells — 

Far, far away; 
The idols shall like Dagon fall, 
And many a child on God shall call. 
And own my Jesus Lord of all, — 

Far, far away ! 



208 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

74. THE WORLD'S CONVERSION. 
Sovereign of worlds, display thy power; 
Be this thy Zion's favor' d hour; 

Bid the bright Morning Star arise, 
And point the nations to the skies. 

Set up thy throne where Satan reigns — 
On Afric's shore, on India's plains, 
On wilds and continents unknown ; 
And make the nations all thine own. 

Speak! and the world shall hear thy voice; 
Speak! and the desert shall rejoice; 
Scatter the gloom of heathen night, 
And bid all nations hail the light. 

75. PRATER POR THE HEATHEN. 
Rise, Sun of glory, rise, 

And chase the shades of night, 
Which now obscure the skies, 
And hide thy sacred light; 
O chase those dismal shades away 
And bring the bright, millennial day! 

Now send thy Spirit down 
On all the nations, Lord, 

With great success to crown 
The preaching of thy Word ; 



DECLAMATIONS. 209 

That heathen lands may own thy sway, 
And cast their idol gods away. 

Then shall thy kingdom come 

Among our fallen race, 
And all the earth become 
The temple of thy grace; 
Whence pure devotion shall ascend, 
And songs of praise, till time shall end. 

BURDER. 

76. DESIRING THE SPREAD OF THE GOSPEL. 
O'er the gloomy hills of darkness, 

Look, my soul, be still and gaze; 
See the promises advancing 
To a glorious day of grace; 

Blessed jubilee, 
Let thy glorious morning dawn. 

Let the dark, benighted pagan, 

Let the rude barbarian see 
That divine and glorious conquest 

Once obtained on Calvary; 
Let the Gospel 

Loud resound from pole to pole. 

Kingdoms wide, that sit in darkness, 
Grant them, Lord, the glorious light; 

Now, from Eastern coast to Western, 
May the morning chase the night; 
14 



2IO MISSIONARY CONCERTS, 

Let redemption, 
Freely purchased, win the day. 

Fly abroad, thou mighty Gospel; 

Win and conquer — never cease ; 
May thy lasting, wide dominions 

Multiply and still increase; 
Sway thy scepter, 

Savior, all the world around. 

P. WILLIAMS. 
c~4£<2f>-o 

77. DARKNESS IN PALESTINE, 
Night wraps the land where Jesus spoke, 

No guiding star the wise men see; 
And heavy is oppression's yoke, 

Where first the Gospel said, "Be free!" 

And where the harps of angels bore 

Heaven's message to the shepherd-throng, 

Good will and peace are heard no more 
To murmur Bethlehem's vales along. 

Send forth, send forth the glorious light, 
That from eternal woe doth save; 

And bid Christ's heralds speed their flight. 
Ere millions find a hopeless grave. 

Behold the knee of childhood bends 
In prayer for that benighted land, 



DECLAMATIONS. 2 1 1 

And with its Sabbath lesson blends 
Fond memory of the mission band, 

With pitying zeal o'er ocean's wave, 
We reach the helpless hand to take 

May we at last one wanderer save ! 
We ask it for the Savior's sake. 



78. THE LATTER DAT GLORY. 
Behold, the heathen waits to know 
The joy the Gospel will bestow; 
The exiled captive, to receive 
The freedom Jesus has to give. 

Come, let us, with a grateful heart, 
In this blest labor share a part; 
Our prayers and ofTrings gladly bring 
To aid the triumphs of our King. 

Our hearts exult in songs of praise, 
That we have seen these latter days, 
When our Redeemer shall be known 
Where Satan long hath held his throne. 

Where'er his hand hath spread the skies, 
Sweet incense to his Name shall rise; 
And slave and freeman, Greek and Jew, 
By sovVeign grace be form'd anew. 

VOKE. 



212 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

79. THE HEATHEN MOTHER. 
See that heathen mother stand 

Where the sacred currents flow — 
With her own maternal hand 

'Mid the waves her infant throw. 

Hark ! I hear the piteous scream ! 

Frightful monsters seize their prey; 
Or the dark and bloody stream 

Bears the struggling child away. 

Fainter now, and fainter still, 
Breaks the cry upon the ear; 

But the mother's heart is steel — 
She, unmoved, that cry can hear! 

Send, O send the Bible there; 

Let its precepts reach her heart; 
She may then her children spare — 

Act the mother's tender part. 

MRS. BROWN. 



80. DIVINE POWER IMPLORED. 
Arm of the Lord, awake, awake ; 
Put on thy strength, the nations shake; 
Now let the world, adoring, see 
Triumphs of mercy wrought by thee. 






DECLAMATIONS. 

Say to the heathen, from thy throne, 
"I am Jehovah, God alone;'' 
Thy voice their idols shall confound, 
And cast their altars to the ground. 

Let Zion's time of favor come; 
O bring the tribes of Israel home; 
Soon may our wondering eyes behold 
Gentiles and Jews in Jesus' fold. 

Almighty God, thy grace proclaim 
Through every clime, of every name; 
Let adverse powers before thee fall, 
And crown the Savior Lord of all. 



213 



81. PAGAN CHILDREN. 
On many a foreign shore 

Poor pagan children now 
The basest things adore — 
To horrid idols bow; 
Images, carved from stone or trees, — 
Their helpless gods are such as these ! 

But we, from earliest youth, 
Have been to knowledge led; 

We read the Word of truth. 
We hear what God has said; 



214 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

The mercy, undeserved, we own 
That makes to us a Savior known. 

We would to them convey, 

As well as yet we can, 
The knowledge of that way 
That pardon brings to man ; 
We humbly ask thy goodness, Lord, 
To send thy blessed truth abroad. 

Nor suffer us to stand 

Beneath the Gospel day, 
With Bibles in our hand, 
As far from God as they; 
O let us not at last be found 
Heathens, though born on Christian ground. 



82, THE MESSENGERS OF GOD. 
Go, ye messengers of God ! 

Like the beams of morning, fly; 
Take the wonder-working rod, 

Wave the banner-cross on high. 

Where the towering minaret 

Gleams along the morning skies, 

Wave it till the crescent set, 
And the "Star of Jacob" rise. 






DECLAMATIONS. 



215 



Go to many a tropic isle, 

In the bosom of the deep, 
Where the skies forever smile, 

And th' oppressed forever weep. 

O'er the negro's night of care 
Pour the living light of heaven ; 

Chase away the fiend despair, — 
Bid him hope to be forgiven. 

Where the golden gates of day 

Open on the palmy East, 
Wide the bleeding cross display, — 

Spread the Gospel's richest feast. 

Circumnavigate the ball, 

Visit every soil and sea; 
Preach the cross of Christ to all, — 

Christ, whose love is full and free. 

MARSDEN. 



83, OHEIST'S KINGDOM AMONG THE GENTILBS. 
Jesus shall reign where'er the sun 
Does his successive journeys run ; 
His kingdom spread from shore to shore, 
Till moons shall wax and wane no more. 

For him shall endless prayer be made, 
And endless praises crown his head; 






2 1 6 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

His name, like sweet perfume, shall rise 
With every morning sacrifice. 

People and realms of every tongue 
Dwell on his love, with sweetest song; 
And infant voices shall proclaim 
Their early blessings on his name. 

Blessings abound where'er he reigns; 
The pris'ner leaps to lose his chains; 
The weary find eternal rest, 
And all the sons of want are blest. 

Let every creature rise, and bring 
Peculiar honors to our King ; 
Angels descend with songs again, 
And earth repeat the loud Amen. 



WATTS. 



84. DIVINE POWER SUPPLICATED, 
Awake, all-conquering Arm, awake. 
And Satan's mighty empire shake; 
Assert the honors of thy throne, 
And make this ruined world thy own. 

Thine all-successful power display ; 

Convert a nation in a day; 

Until the universe shall be 

But one great temple. Lord, for thee. 



DECLAMATIONS. 21 7 

85. PRAYER FOR THE HEATHEN, 

O'er the realms of pagan darkness 

Let the eye of pity gaze; 
See the kindreds of the people 

Lost in sin's bewildering maze; 
Darkness brooding 

O'er the face of all the earth. 

Light of them that sit in darkness, 

Rise and shine; thy blessings bring: 
Light to lighten all the Gentiles, 

Rise with healing in thy wing; 
To thy brightness 

Let all kings and nations come. 
May the heathen, now adoring 

Idol gods of wood and stone, 
Come, and, worshiping before him, 

Serve the living God alone ; 
Let thy glory 

Fill the earth as floods the sea. 

Thou, to whom all power is given, 
Speak the word; at thy command, 

Let the company of heralds 

Spread thy name from land to land; 

Lord, be with them, 
Alway, to the end of time. 

T. COTTER1LL. 



2l8 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

86. MISSIONARIES REMEMBERED. 
Marked as the purpose of the skies, 
This promise meets our anxious eyes, — 
That heathen lands the Lord shall know, 
And warm with faith each bosom glow. 

E'en now the hallowed scenes appear; 
E'en now unfolds the promised year; 
Lo ! distant shores thy heralds trace, 
And bear the tidings of thy grace. 

'Mid burning climes and frozen plains, 
Where pagan darkness brooding reigns, 
Lord ! mark their steps, their fears subdue, 
And nerve their arm, and clear their view. 

When, worn by toil, their spirits fail, 
Bid them the glorious future hail ; 
Bid them the crown of life survey, 
And onward urge their conquering way. 



NOLL. 



87. THE PINAL VICTORY OF CHRIST. 
When shall the voice of singing 

Flow joyfully along ? 
When hill and valley, ringing 

With one triumphant song, 



DECLAMATIONS. 2 1 9 

Proclaim the contest ended, 
And Him, who once was slain, 

Again to earth descended, 
In righteousness to reign. 

Then, from the craggy mountains, 

The sacred shout shall fly; 
And shady vales and fountains 

Shall echo the reply; 
High tower and lowly dwelling 

Shall send the chorus round, 
All hallelujah swelling 

In one eternal sound. 

ANON. 



88. PRATER FOR ALL LANDS. 
O God of sovereign grace, 

We bow before thy throne; 
And plead, for all the human race, 

The merits of thy Son. 

Spread through the earth, O Lord, 
The knowledge of thy ways; 

And let all lands with joy record 
The great Redeemer's praise. 

MELROSE. 



2 20 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

89. PRATER FOR MISSIONARIES. 
Great God ! the nations of the earth 

Are by creation thine; 
And in thy works, from nature's birth, 

Thy radiant glories shine. 

But, Lord, thy greater love hath sent 

Thy Gospel to our race; 
Unveiling thy divine intent 

Of rich redeeming grace. 

Soon may these gracious tidings roll 

The spacious earth around, 
Till every tribe and every soul 

Shall hear the joyful sound. 

Then, to her sable sons conveyed, 

Shall Afric learn thy Word, 
And vassals, long enslaved, become 

The freemen of the Lord. 

When shall the scattered wanderers meet, 

That now in darkness rove, 
And, gathered round ImmanuePs feet, 

Sing of his saving love? 

O Lord! each faithful effort own, 

To spread the Gospel rays; 
And rear, on sin's demolished throne, 

The temples of thy praise. 

GIBBONS. 



DECLAMATIONS. 221 

90. SUCCESS OF THE GOSPEL AMONG THE HEATHEN. 
O'er the gloomy hills of darkness, 

Cheered by no celestial ray, 
Sun of righteousness, arising, 

Bring the bright, the glorious day; 

Send the Gospel 
To the earth's remotest bound. 

Kingdoms wide that sit in darkness 
Grant them, Lord, the glorious light; 

And, from eastern coast to western, 
May the morning chase the night; 

And redemption, 
Freely purchased, win the day. 

Fly abroad, thou mighty Gospel ! 

Win and conquer, never cease; 
May thy lasting, wide dominions, 

Multiply and still increase; 
Sway thy scepter, 

Savior, all the world around. 

P. WILLIAMS. 

91. THE KINGDOM OF CHRIST. 
Father, is not thy promise pledged 

To thine exalted Son, 
That, through the nations of the earth, 

Thy Word of life shall run ? 



22 2 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

"Ask, and I give the heathen lands, 

For thine inheritance, 
And, to the world's remotest shores, 

Thine empire shall advance." 

Hast thou not said the blinded Jews 

Shall their Redeemer own, 
While Gentiles to his standard crowd, 

And bow before his throne ? 

Are not all kingdoms, tribes, and tongues, 
Beneath th' expanse of heaven, 

To the dominion of thy Son, 
With all their millions, given? 

From East to West, from North to South, 

Then be his name adored; 
The world, through all its nations, shout 

Hosannas to the Lord. 

GIBBONS. 

92. MISSIONARIES CHARGED. 
Onward, onward, men of heaven; 

Bear the Gospel banner high; 
Rest not till its light is given — 

Star of every pagan sky. 
Send it where the pilgrim stranger 

Faints beneath the torrid ray; 
Bid the hardy forest-ranger 

Hail it, ere he fades away. 



DECLAMATIONS. 223 

Where the Arctic Ocean thunders, 

Where the tropics fiercely glow, 
Broadly spread its page of wonders, 

Brightly bid its radiance flow ; 
India marks its luster stealing; 

Shivering Greenland loves its rays; 
Afric, 'mid her deserts kneeling, 

Lifts the untaught strain of praise. 

Rude in speech, or wild in feature, 

Dark in spirit, though they be, 
Show that light to every creature — 

Prince or vassal, bond or free; 
Lo! they haste to every nation; 

Host on host the ranks supply; 
Onward ! Christ is your salvation, 

And your death is victory. 

L. H. SIGOURNEY. 



93. THE MISSIONARY ANGEL, 
Onward speed thy conquering flight; 

Angel, onward speed; 
Cast abroad thy radiant light, 

Bid the shades recede; 
Tread the idols in the dust, 

Heathen fanes destroy, 
Spread the Gospel's holy trust, 

Spread the Gospel's joy. 



224 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

Onward speed thy conquering flight; 

Angel, onward haste; 
Quickly on each mountains's height 

Be thy standard placed; 
Let thy blissful tidings float 

Far o'er vale and hill, 
Till the sweetly echoing note 

Every bosom thrill. 

Onward speed thy conquering flight; 

Angel, onward fly; 
Long has been the reign of night; 

Bring the morning nigh; 
'Tis to thee the heathen lift 

Their imploring wail ; 
Bear them heaven's holy gift 

Ere their courage fail. 

Onward speed thy conquering flight; 

Angel, onward speed; 
Morning bursts upon our sight — 

'Tis the time decreed; 
Jesus now his kingdom takes, 

Thrones and empires fall, 
And the joyous song awakes, 

"God is all in all." 

S. P. SMITH. 



DECLAMATIONS. 22 5 

94. ENCOURAGING- PROSPECTS. 
Yes, we trust the day is breaking; 
Joyful times are near at hand; 
God, the mighty God, is speaking, 
By his Word, in every land; 

When he chooses 
Darkness flies at his command. 

While the foe becomes more daring, 

While he enters like a flood, 
God, the Savior, is preparing 

Means to spread his truth abroad: 
Every language 

Soon shall tell the love of God. 

O 'tis pleasant, 'tis reviving 
To our hearts to hear each day 

Joyful news from far arriving, 
How the Gospel wins its way, 

Those enlightening 
Who in death and darkness lay. 

God of Jacob, high and glorious, 

Let thy people see thy hand; 
Let the Gospel be victorious, 

Through the world in every land, 
Then shall idols 

Perish, Lord, at thy command. 

KELLY. 

15 



226 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

95. PRAYER POR ISRAEL, 
Lord, send thy servants forth 

To call the Hebrews home; 
From East and West, from South and North, 

Let all the wanderers come. 

Where'er, in lands unknown, 

The fugitives remain, 
Bid every creature help them on, 

Thy holy mount to gain. 

An offering to the Lord, 

There let them all be seen, 
And washed with water and with blood, 

In soul and body clean. 

With Israel's myriads sealed, 

Let all the nations meet, 
And show the promises fulfilled — 

Thy family complete. 

c. WESLEY. 

96. PRAYER FOR THE HEATHEN. 
Let all the earth their voices raise, 
To sing the choicest psalm of praise, 

To sing and bless Jehovah's name : 
His glory let the heathen know, 
His wonders to the nations show, 

And all his saving works proclaim. 



DECLAMATIONS. 227 

He framed the globe; he built the sky; 
He made the shining worlds on high, 

And reigns complete in glory there; 
His beams are majesty and light; 
His beauties, how divinely bright! 

His temple, how divinely fair! 

Come, the great day, the glorious hour, 
When earth shall feel his saving power, 

And barbarous nations fear his name; 
Then shall the race of men confess 
The beauty of his holiness, 

And in his courts his grace proclaim. 

WATTS. 

97, CHRIST, THE CONQUEROR, 
Jesus, immortal King, arise ; 

Assert thy rightful sway; 
Till earth, subdued, its tribute brings, 

And distant lands obey. 

Ride forth, victorious Conqu'ror, ride, 

Till all thy foes submit, 
And all the powers of hell resign 

Their trophies at thy feet. 

Send forth thy Word, and let it fly 

The spacious earth around, 
Till every soul beneath the sun 

Shall hear the joyful sound. 



2 28 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

O may the great Redeemer's name 
Through every clime be known, 

And heathen gods, forsaken, fall, 
And Jesus reign alone. 

From sea to sea, from shore to shore, 

Be thou, O Christ, adored, 
And earth, with all her millions shout 

Hosannas to the Lord. 

BURDER. 

98. THE GLORIOUS GOSPEL. 
The nations of the earth, 

Almighty Lord, are thine; 
And in thy works from nature's birth, 

Thy radiant glories shine. 

Thy love hath also sent 

Thy Gospel to our race; 
Unveiling thy divine intent 

Of rich redeeming grace. 

When shall these tidings roll 
The spacious earth around, 

And every tribe and every soul 
Receive the joyful sound ? 

When shall the wand'rers meet, 
That now in darkness rove, 

And, gather'd round Immanuers feet, 
Sing of his saving love? 



D ECLA M ATIONS. 229 

O Lord, our efforts own, 

To spread the Gospel rays; 
And rear, on sin's demolished throne, 

The temples of thy praise. 

GIBBONS. 



99. PRAISE TO CHRIST, THE KING. 
Jesus, the Lord, ascends on high; 
He reigns in glory o'er the sky: 
Let all the earth its offerings bring, 
Exalt his name, proclaim him King. 

Wide, through the world, he spreads his sway, 
And bids the heathen lands obey, 
His Church, with willing offerings, greet, 
And bend submissive at her feet. 

His reign the heathen lands shall own ; 
His holiness secures his throne; 
And earthly princes gather round, 
Where Christ, the mighty God, is found. 

w. GOODE. 

100. THE PRINCE OF SALVATION. 

The Prince of salvation in triumph is riding, 
And glory attends him along his bright way; 

The tidings of grace on the breezes are gliding, 
And nations are owning his sway. 



23O MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

Ride on in thy greatness, thou conquering Savior; 

Let thousands of thousands submit to thy reign, 
Acknowledge thy goodness, entreat for thy favor, 

And follow thy glorious train. 

Then loud shall ascend, from each sanctified nation, 
The voice of thanksgiving, the chorus of praise ; 

And heaven shall re-echo the song of salvation 
In rich and melodious lays. 

s. F. SMITH. 

101. LET THERE BE LIGHT. 
Thou, whose almighty Word 
Chaos and darkness heard, 

And took their flight; 
Hear us, we humbly pray, 
And where the Gospel day 
Sheds not its glorious ray, 

Let there be light. 

Thou who didst come to bring, 
On thy redeeming wing, 

Healing and sight,— 
Health to the sick in mind, 
Sight to the inly blind, — 
O now, to all mankind, 

Let there be light. 

Spirit of truth and love, 
Life-giving, holy Dove, 



DECLAMATIONS. 231 

Speed forth thy flight; 
Move on the water's face, 
Bearing the lamp of grace; 
And in earth's darkest place, 

Let there be light. 

MARRIOTT. 



I»AItT IV. 

Dialogues. 



1. THE MISSIONARY COLLECTION. 
For Four Boys. 

Henry. You are just the boy I wanted to see. 

Arthur. We 're trying to raise money for a new 
foot-ball, and you must give us a lift. 

Philip. Yes, and a good one, too; for you're 
the best player in school, and did your share to 
wear out the old one. 

Arthur. I '11 do all I can, but I have only half 
a dollar. You can have half of that, if you'll 
change it. 

Philip. Change it! We'll take the whole, if 
you please. 

Arthur. No. I must keep part for the mission- 
ary concert. 

Henry. There! I never thought of the mis- 
sionary box, and I've paid out my last cent. 
Now, Fred Lynn will hold up his head. He al- 
ways watches to see how much I put in, and I 've 
always managed to keep a little ahead of him, 
though one week I had to coax Alice to let me 
put her contribution in with mine- 



DIALOGUES. 233 

Arthur. How mean that was ! 

Henry. What difference did it make? It ail 
went to the heathen just the same, and a dollar is 
just as good when one man gives it as another. 

Ailhur. I do n't think that is true. Do n't you 
remember what our pastor said about the different 
ways of giving, and that we should give cheer- 
fully, and accompany our money with earnest 
prayers that God would bless it. 

Henry. Well; I think the missionary collec- 
tion a perfect bore, but I always like to have 
something to put in, because I do n't want to be 
called mean or be outdone by others. 

Philip. For my part I do not intend to give 
any more now. When I am a man I expect to 
be rich, and then it will be time enough to give 
money to the heathen; but I think it is too bad 
to expect us boys to give up all our fun and save 
up money for them. 

Arthur. I don't mean to give up all my fun; 
but since I have so much to enjoy, I want to 
share my pleasures and blessings with those that 
have so very few; and if we don't form the 
habit of giving now, I'm afraid we shall only 
grow more selfish as we grow older. 

Henry. But my father gives a great deal every 
year to help the missionaries, and I think that 
might do for the family. 



234 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

Arthur. If your father swore or drank or did 
any thing very bad, you would not take any of 
the blame of it to yourself. So I don't see 
why you should claim any credit for the good 
he does. 

Philip. My father doesn't believe in missions. 
He says it's all a waste of money; for if the 
heathen only do as well as they know how, they 
will be saved even if they never heard of the 
Bible or of God. 

George. Well, suppose that were true; the 
missionaries say they never met with a single 
heathen who would not own that he knew he was 
wicked. 

Arthur. Yes. They say the people of India 
are the greatest liars in the world; and when the 
missionaries complain of their cheating, they will 
say, " Did n't you know that we were all liars?" 
But if the missionaries make any bargain with 
them, and then try to change it at all, they will 
say, "You are a man of one word, Sahib." This 
shows that they know what truth is, and expect 
the missionaries to be truthful 

Philip. Well, I'm sure we are doing a great 
deal for the missionaries. Why, I read there was 
more than half a million dollars given last year 
by the Methodist Church alone. 

George. I guess you did n't go to the last mis- 



DIALOGUES. 235 

sionary meeting, or you would remember what 
Mr. Ellis said about that. He told us that this 
sum, if it was equally divided among the Church 
members, would amount to only thirty-three cents 
each. 

Arthur. Yes; and he said that the sum that 
the whole Christian Church of America had con- 
tributed to the cause of missions in the last fifteen 
years was less than the State of Ohio paid in a- 
single year in taxes on whisky. 

Henry. Well, if that is the case, I do n't see 
that we have done very much after all. 

Philip. I guess you had better keep all your 
half-dollar for the missionaries, Arthur, and let the 
foot-ball go. 

Arthur. No; I want the foot-ball, too; and 
twenty-five cents is my regular monthly contribu- 
tion. I lay aside a little every week, till I get it 
made up. Then I am sure to be ready. 



2. BRIGHT NEW CENT. 

^ CHARLIE. 

See here! see here! a bright new cent 

My father gave to me; 
O Johnny, say, what would you buy 

With it if you were me ? 



236 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

JOHNNY. 

I 've got a penny, too, see here ! 

And though it is quite small, 
'T will buy some candy, I am sure, 

Or else a top or ball. 

CHARLIE. 

I wish I had a pile 
Of pennies up so high, 

(Measuring with his hands.) 
What lots of playthings, pretty toys 
And candies I would buy. 

JOHNNY. 

And I would buy a great live horse, 

And ride him all the day; 
I'm sure I never should be tired, 

Nor ever want to play. 

CARRIE. 

Now, boys, if you will listen 
I '11 tell you something true 

1 read about some boys and girls 
About as big as you. 

They live across the ocean 

Thousands of miles away, 
They never read the Bible 

Nor ever learned to pray. 



DIALOGUES. 237 

They never go to Sunday-school 

To hear God's Holy Word, 
But worship idols (made of stone 

Or wood) instead of God. 

They never heard of Jesus, 

So gentle and so mild, 
Who blessed the little children 

And loves each little child. 

Our people send the Bible 

And missionaries there, 
But it takes a lot of money 

To support them every year. 

CHARLIE. 

Here, Carrie, take my penny; 

I do not want the toys; 
I 'd rather send the Bible 

To the little girls and boys. 

JOHNNY. 

And so would I ; take mine along, 

And send it, Carrie, too; 
If I a pile of pennies had 

I'd give them all to you. 

ALL TOGETHER. 

We're very little children, 

'Tis little we can do, 
But we will send our pennies, 

And the dollars leave for you. 



238 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

3. MISSIONARY DIALOGUE. 
For two Girls. 

Julia. Good evening, Fanny. I am so glad to 
see you. 

Fanny. Good evening, Julia. I have just been 
reading about the advent of our blessed Savior. 

Julia. It was, indeed, a joyful event that 
brought the angels from heaven to earth to an- 
nounce the birth of Jesus. 

Fanny. Yes. I have often thought I would 
like to have been among the shepherds that 
morning on the plains of Bethlehem, when the 
angels broke the stillness of the night by singing, 
" Glory to God in the highest, peace on earth, 
good will to men." 

Julia. It would have been a privilege, indeed. 
But we have heard, by faith, the voices of the 
angels, and the "good will to men" that they 
proclaimed has reached even us. 

Fanny. I have thought of these things, 
and thanked the Lord for the blessed Bible, 
which shows us the way of salvation. But when 
I have contrasted the condition of the people of 
heathen countries with my own, I have felt sor- 
row as well as joy. Ever since we could lisp the 
name of Jesus, we have been taught to love him, 
to love his Word, and to love the Sabbath-school. 



DIALOGUES. 239 

We can have no proper idea of the fearful dark- 
ness which rests on the nations where he is not 
known. And I have felt that, young as I am, I 
can do much toward sending the Gospel to them. 

Julia. I do not see why the command, "Go, 
ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to 
every creature, " is not as binding now as when 
it was given. Do you not think that in some 
sense it pertains to us and to a'll Christians ? 

Fanny. Jesus thus commanded his disciples, 
his ministers; but I do not suppose it is the 
duty of all who have the Bible to go to the 
heathen personally as teachers; yet I think it our 
duty to do all we can to send them the Gospel. 
We can do something toward aiding others in 
this glorious work. 

Julia. Yes, I know we can, and instead of 
buying useless things, I have put my money in 
the missionary box, thinking it will buy a Testa- 
ment or a tract which may be the means of con- 
verting some poor heathen child, and I have felt 
very happy. 

Fanny. I am very glad to hear you say so. [Ad- 
dressing the Sunday-school children.] And I would 
ask the members of our school if they can not 
say the same. Do you not, when the bell rings 
for the Sabbath-school to assemble, feel thankful 
that it does not call you to a heathen temple, 



240 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

where your friends might be made the offer- 
ing to heathen gods? Do you not feel thankful 
that, instead of destroying you, your parents pro- 
vide for you, and lead you in the way of happi- 
ness on earth, and to bliss in heaven? Do you 
not owe something more than thanks ? Only 
think .of what all the children of all our Sabbath- 
schools could do if our pastor has reckoned right. 
He said that each penny was a drop; that drops 
made rills; that rills made rivers; that rivers 
swelled the ocean; and that when each of the 
children in all our Sabbath-schools gave a penny 
a week we should have an ocean of missionary 
money. I propose that we start a rill in our 
school. He said, too, that the Sabbath-school 
children might support all our missions as they 
are. But it seems to me that if they should our 
teachers and parents would have nothing of the 
kind to do, 

Julia. Never fear that. I will ask our teachers 
if they could not find out more heathen to in- 
struct and send out more missionaries. I do not 
doubt they would do as much as the children, 
and perhaps our parents would do as much as the 
teachers and children together. 

Fanny. I presume they would ; and it seems to 
me that when we are all so pleasantly situated, 
and so happy in the enjoyment of Christian priv- 



DIALOGUES. 241 

ileges, it is a very proper time to appeal to them. 
[Addressing the aiidietice^\ Dear parents and teach- 
ers, permit me, as the representative of the Sab- 
bath-school, to address you in behalf of the mill- 
ions of wretched people who know not the way 
of salvation through a crucified Redeemer. We 
praise our heavenly Father, and we thank you, 
dear friends, for all your prayers and for all your 
pious instructions. We would ask if, when you 
kneel at the family altar, you do not feel it is a 
blessed privilege not only to pray for our be- 
nighted fellow-creatures, but to do all you can to 
send them the light and power of the Gospel? 

We would not dictate to you, but wish in obe 
dience and humility to stir up your pure minds 
by way of remembrance. The ocean of treasure 
which we have just been contemplating is not so 
large as the Atlantic. It is only a little ocean; 
but we pray that the Church may swell it so 
much that it can be exhausted only when the 
whole world shall have been redeemed. Pardon 
the boldness of this suggestion, for we feel, dear 
friends, that we owe you a debt we can never re- 
pay. Your love and your unwearied efforts for 
us give assurances that we need make no strong 
appeal to enlist your sympathy for others. May 
it be said of all present, in the great day of God, 
"they have done what they could ;" and may 
16 



242 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

thousands redeemed through your instrumental- 
ity praise God that they were not left to per- 
ish in darkness. 

— >*&&>< — 

4. MISSIONAKY MONET. 
Dialogue Fop Two Boys. 

Willie. Hallo, Frank! [Holding up a dime.] 
See what I have. 

Frank. What! More money? How do you 
manage to get so much money ? 

Willie. Ah! I know. 

Frank. Tell me; I want to know, too. 

Willie. Why, what do you want of money? 
You never buy any thing. 

Frank. Never mind ! I can use it fast enough. 
Only just let me know how to get it. 

Willie. Well, I '11 tell you how to get it. When 
I have been teasing the boys they run and tell 
father, and he scolds me. Then I say it is so 
funny to see them get mad, and I tell him what 
trick I played them, and get him to laughing. 
He thinks it real cunning of me, I know, for some- 
times he throws me a piece of money, and tells 
me there is something to help me remember to do 
better. He has done that as much as four or 
five times. 

Frank. Pooh ! precious little money would my 
father give me to help me remember; not more, 



DIALOGUES. 243 

I reckon, than it would take to buy a good 
ratan. 

Willie. Does be never give you any money? 

Frank. Not to hire me to behave myself, I 
thank you. 

Willie. You need not be so stiff about it. I 
guess it is precious little money that gets into 
your pocket any way. How much have you 
now ? Come. 

Frank. [Stops a minute to think.] Let's see. 
I have just fifty-six cents. 

Willie. [With some surprise.] Have you? Why, 
how did you get it ? 

Frank. I got it all honorably. * 

Willie. Come, tell me; I have told you how I 
got mine. 

Frank. Well, I got thirty cents of it by killing 
rats in grandfather's store. He said he would 
give us two cents a head for all we would kill, 
and I killed fifteen. And I saved father's old 
newspapers and sold them for ten cents more; 
and the other sixteen cents I got for some old 
iron that my father gave me. 

Willie. Well, you are a real miser, I declare ! 

Frank. Not quite so fast, my young man. 
Suppose I call you a miser for hoarding up that 
ten-cent piece. 

Willie. But I am on my way to spend it now. 



244 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

I'm going to get an India-rubber ball. Come, 
now, if you are no miser, just go along and get 
one for yourself. You haven't any, have you? 

Frank. No; but I have a large yarn ball with 
India rubber in it, and sister covered it for me 
very nicely. That is as good as I want; I would 
rather keep my money for better purposes. 

Willie. Just let us know what you do with it. 

Frank. I give it to the missionary society. 

Willie. Well, I don't do any such thing; I 
do n't think we boys ought to give all our money 
away; I give my two cents a month, and that is 
enough, in my opinion. 

Frank. And I suppose your father furnishes 
you with those two cents. 

Willie. That makes no difference. You don't 
find men that have a great deal of money giving 
it all away, nor half nor a quarter of it. And it 
should not be expected that boys like us, who 
have so little, should give any thing. 

Frank. Well, for my part, I do not need much 
money. My parents clothe me and send me to 
school and supply me with every thing really nec- 
essary. So, if I have a little money, I do not 
know what better investment I can make of it 
than to send it to aid in giving destitute children 
the same privileges that I enjoy. 

Willie. Pretty well. But I reckon that you do 



DIALOGUES. 245 

not always know where your money goes to when 
you put it into the missionary society. 

Frank. [Surprised. ] Why so ? . 

Willie. Because I heard a minister talking 
about it the other day at our house, and he said 
that a great part of the money that we thought 
went to the poor heathen was paid out to min- 
isters in this country. 

Frank. I can 't understand that, for I know 
that we have a good many missionaries in Africa 
and China and India. And somebody's money 
has to support them. 

Willie. This minister said he had his people 
give their money to the Bible and Tract Societies. 

Frank. In that case, the most of the money 
would certainly go to the people of this country, 
and it would do a vast amount of good, too. O, 
now I suppose I know what he means by its go- 
ing to ministers in this country. He means the 
home missionaries. 

Willie. Yes ; he said they paid it out to send 
ministers among the Irish, Welsh, and German 
immigrants that come to this country; and even 
sometimes among our own people in the new set- 
tlements at the West, while we thought it all went 
to the heathen. 

Frank. Well, if we thought so, it was our own 
fault. We might read and know better. And 



246 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

I'd like to know if it is not just as well to pay 
missionaries to preach to those that come over 
here, as it would be to send missionaries off to 
preach to them somewhere else. 

Willie. Yes; but we do not have missionaries 
in Europe. 

Frank. Indeed we do, and they are among the 
most prosperous of our foreign missions. We 
have a mission conference in Germany, and mis- 
sions in France, and in Sweden. And, best of 
all, a flourishing mission in Italy. Why, we have 
a Church in Rome, right under the j^ope's nose. 

Willie. Well, what is the use of sending mis- 
sionaries out West among our own people? Let 
them pay their preacher, just as we do. 

Frank. Many of them are poor and so scat- 
tered around the country, that they could not 
support a preacher at first. Then, by the time 
the country becomes settled, the children have 
grown up wicked, and do not want any preacher. 
So, then, we should have heathen at home, just 
because we do not think it worth while to send 
missionaries to any but the heathen abroad. 

Willie. I do not pretend to know much about 
it. I thought when I heard that minister talking 
about it, I would not pay any more money to the 
Missionary Society, but if it is as you say, then it 
is all right. 



DIALOGUES. 247 

Frank. Where did you intend to give your 
money, then ? 

Willie. I don't know; I had not thought so 
far as that. I guess I '11 not spend my dime 
just now; I'll think about it, and perhaps I'll 
give it to the Missionary Society yet, for I do 
not want the people in our country to become 
heathen. 

Frank. That is right, Willie. Give us your 
hand. [They shake hands. ~\ 

Willie. Good-bye, Frank. 

Frank. Good-bye. 



5. DIALOGUE ON MISSIONS. 
For three Girls. 

Martha. Good morning, Lydia. I am happy 
to see you. I was about starting to make you 
a call, to see if you would subscribe something 
for the missionary cause. 

Lydia. Indeed ! 

Martha. Yes; I thought you would like to 
head the list with your name and subscription. 

Lydia. I am not very particular about having 
my name on the paper at all. 

Martha. Why, it is for the missionary cause, 
you know. 

Lydia. So you told me when I first came in. 



248 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

Martha. You do not mean to say that you will 
not contribute to this good cause, do you? 

Lydia. I think I shall not. 

Martha. What! not subscribe for the mission- 
ary cause ! Pray tell me why. 

Lydia. The first and principal reason is, I think 
every nation ought to support its own institutions, 
and provide for its own people. 

Martha. I do not think you understand me, 
Lydia. The funds which we raise are used for the 
support of the Gospel in heathen countries, and 
among the poor and destitute in our own land. 

Lydia. Why trouble the heathen ? Have we 
not all a right to worship God as we please ? 

Martha. Do you call it worshiping God when 
mothers destroy their children, or when children 
leave aged parents to suffer and die alone by the 
river's side, or to be tern in pieces by wild beasts. 

Lydia. Certainly not. But I think such cases 
are not very common ; and if they were, I do not 
see that we have any right to interfere with them, 
if their laws allow them to do so. 

Martha. Are we not commanded to reprove 
sin every-where ? 

Lydia. You will allow that they sin through 
ignorance, I suppose? 

Martha. To be sure they do ; yet it is our duty 
to enlighten them and teach them a better way. 



DIALOGUES. 249 

Lydia. But the Bible says, the "sins of igno- 
rance are to be winked at." 

Martha. Really, that is news to me. Pray tell 
me where you will find such Scripture ? 

Lydia. I'll show you. [Turns the Bible over 
carefully.} I 'm sure I've seen such a passage 
somewhere. [Still looking. A little pause. ] 

Martha. Have you found it, Lydia? 

Lydia. Not yet. 

Martha. And that is not all ; I think you will 
not find it. But if you turn to Acts, seventeenth 
chapter, thirtieth verse, I think you will find the 
passage you refer to. 

Lydia. [Turns and reads it.} Well, I see I was 
a little mistaken, as it does not read just as I 
thought it did. But I do not see any thing that 
requires us to interfere with other people's religion. 

Martha. But if we are conscious they sin igno- 
rantly, is it not our duty, as a Christian people, to 
show them their errors, and give them the light 
and blessings of the Gospel ? 

Lydia. I can not see that we have any right to 
interfere with them at all. If it is God's will that 
they should be enlightened, he will prepare the 
way for it himself. 

Martha. He does himself prepare the way by 
putting it into our hearts to go and establish mis- 
sions among them, and by giving us the means to 



250 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

sustain them. And, besides, to do this was one 
of the last commands which our Savior gave his 
disciples after his crucifixion, and before his as- 
cension to heaven. 

Lydia. Will you please show me such a com- 
mand ? 

Martha. Certainly. You will turn to the 
twenty-eight chapter of St. Matthew's Gospel, the 
nineteenth and twentieth verses. 

Lydia. [Turns and reads aloud.'] Surely this 
does seem to be a command. And I think, on the 
whole, I will subscribe [takes the paper and sub- 
scribes], and here is an additional dollar for the 
cause [placing it in the collector's hand], for detain- 
ing you so long in this conversation, and from the 
work you have in hand. 

[Enter Jane.] Good morning, girls. 

Both. Good morning. 

Martha. Happy to see you, Jane, and hope 
you will give us your subscription for the mission- 
ary cause. 

Jane. I should be very glad to do so, but, un- 
fortunately, I have no money to give. 

Martha. Then, of course, you are excusable. 

Jane. But I do not wish to be excused nor ex- 
eluded wholly from doing something for so great 
and so good a cause, and as I am poor, and have 
no money to give, I have resolved to give myself. 



DIALOGUES. 251 

Martha. Noble sacrifice ! 

Lydia. Jenny, you do not mean to say that you 
are going among those savages, do you? 

Jane. Such is my intention, if God spares my 
life. 

Lydia. Why, Jenny ! do you not know that 
many of the heathen are cannibals? They will 
both kill and eat you ! 

Martha. You forget, Lydia, that when the 
Savior commanded his disciples to go into all the 
world and teach all nations, he promised to go 
with them. 

Jane. Yes, I have the promise that he will go 
with me, and that his presence will always attend 
me. Therefore I shall go with a strong heart, 
firmly believing that he will fulfill his every promise. 

Lydia. I guess your faith will begin to waver 
when you see how savage they are. Why I 
should n't dare to go to bed at night, for I should 
expect to be murdered before morning. 

Martha. God has graciously, and sometimes in 
a very singular manner, preserved his servants in 
the past, until they have established missions in 
about every foreign field. 

Lydia. But we often hear of missionaries being 
murdered by the natives, don't we? Was not 
that the fate of Mr. Williams? I think it was. 

Jane. You are right in that, Lydia, but that 



252 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

mission was fairly and fully established before that 
sad event, and is now, I believe, in successful 
operation. 

Lydia. But how can you think to leave your 
friends, never more to see them in this world? 
Besides this, there are a great many privations 
which you will have to endure. 

Jane. I am fully aware of that. I expect to 
meet with difficulties and trials, and I expect, too, 
to feel the loss of the society of loved ones at 
home; but if I can only teach some poor, be- 
nighted one the way to Jesus, I shall feel myself 
amply rewarded. 

Lydia. But to think of dying so far from home, 
and in a heathen land, too — who can endure such 
a thought? 

Martha. She will, of course, be among our 
missionary friends if such an event should take 
place, and cared for there as well as here. 

Jane. No doubt of that; and it matters not 
where I am, for I shall endeavor so to live, God 
being my helper, that when my work is done, 
and my heavenly Father says, "It is enough, 
come up higher," I shall have nothing to do but to 

"Clap my glad wings and soar away, 
To dwell in realms of endless day," 

and be at rest 

"Forever with the Lord." 



DIALOGUES. 253 

And O, how sweet our rest will be, after toiling 
with all our strength amid the difficulties and trials 
of life; and how blessed it will be to greet our 
loved ones in that happy land, and many from the 
dark abodes of heathenism also. My heart warms 
up while I dwell upon the subject, and I long to 
gird on the armor and go forth to gather fruit unto 
eternal life. 

Martha. May the God of missions go with you, 
and your highest expectations be fully realized ! 

[Shaking hands or a kiss. 

Jane. Farewell, till we meet in heaven. 

Martha and Lydia. Farewell. 



6. A MISSIONARY LESSON. 

FIRST CHILD. 

A grain of corn an infant's hand 

May plant upon an inch of land, 

Whence twenty stalks may spring and yield 

Enough to stock a little field. 

The harvest of that field might then 

Be multiplied to ten times ten, 

Which sown thrice more would furnish bread 

Wherewith an army might be fed. 

SECOND CHILD. 

A penny is a little thing 

Which e'en the poor man's child may fling 



254 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

Into the treasury of heaven, 

And make it worth as much as seven. 

As seven ! nay, worth its weight in gold, 
And that increased a million fold; 
For lo ! a penny tract, if well 
Applied, may save a soul from hell. 



7. "COME OVER AND HELP US." 

For Five Girls,— one standing in the middle of the 

platform, one in each corner. 

MIDDLE. 

Voices are sounding and calling for me 
Across the mountains and over the sea; 
" Come over and help us," they seem to say, 
Whence do they come, and from which way? 

NORTH. 

My voice is weak, but I send it forth, 
Down the icy hills of the frozen North, 
I wish it could sound so loud and clear, 
That all in the Christian lands could hear. 
There are long, dark nights in the land of snow, 
In the cheerless homes of the Esquimaux; 
There are nights of darkness, and nights of sin — 
Will you bring the light of the Gospel in ? 
Come over and help us, and tell us where 
The Lord is the sun, and there 's no night there. 
Come over and help us 1 



m DIALOGUES. 255 

SOUTH. 

Where the tossing waves of the South Sea roar, 
And dash their foam on the coral shore, 
From the cruel isles of the sea, we cry 
Come over and help us, before we die! 
Jesus said, "Let the little ones come unto me;" 
Though we dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, 
Come over the stormy waves, and bring 
The .isles of the sea to their Lord and king. 
Come help us to know where our home shall be 
In the land where ye say, " there shall be no sea." 
Come over and help us! 

EAST. 

From the land of the East, O hear my cry, 
Come over and help us, nor pass us by ! 
For wrong and cruelty, pain and sin, 
Are all of our habitations in. 
Wise men from the East came, long ago, 
To seek the wonderful child, you know; 
Yet lands so near where the dear one dwelt, 
Have never the light of his presence felt. 
Come over and help us, we long like them, 
To find the manger of Bethlehem. 

Come over and help us! 

WEST. 

My voice shall speak of the western wild, 
The home of the ignorant Indian child; 



256 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

Where wicked anger and hatred are, 
When the tribes go fortli unto strife and war. 
Is there somewhere a merciful Prince of Peace? 
Is there one who " maketh the wars to cease ?" 
I think, if there is, you must love him so 
You will come and help us his name to know. 
Come over the wilderness, drear and vast, 
And make it bloom like the rose at last. 
Come over and help us. 

MIDDLE. 

And so from the East, West, North, and South, 
Again and again doth the sound go forth, 
E. w. N. s., (in con,) 
Come over and help us! 

MIDDLE. 

The earth is the Lord's, from sea to sea, 
And O, if the children of God are we, 

E. w. N. s., (in con.) 
Come over and help us! 

M. B. C SLADE. 

— >-<&&< — 
8. THE KINGDOM COMING. 

FIRST SCHOLAR. 

" There stood a man of Macedonia and prayed 
to Paul, saying, Come over into Macedonia and 
help us." — Acts xvi, 9, 



DIALOGUES. 257 



SECOND SCHOLAR. 



"The kingdoms of this world shall become the 
kingdom of our Lord." — Rev. xi, 15. 



THIRD SCHOLAR. 



"The earth shall be full of the knowledge of 
the Lord, as the waters cover the sea." — Isa. xi, 9. 



FOURTH SCHOLAR. 

"We will rejoice in thy salvation, and in the 
name of our God we will set up our banners. " — 
Psalm xx, 5. 

FIRST SCHOLAR. 

From all the dark places 
Of earth's heathen races, 
O see how the thick shadows fly! 
The voice of salvation 
Awakes every nation ; 
"Come over and help us ! " they cry. 

FOUR SCHOLARS (in concert). 

The kingdom is coming, O tell ye the story, 

God's banner exalted shall be! 
The earth shall be full of his knowledge and glory, 

As waters that cover the sea. 

SECOND SCHOLAR. 

The sunlight is glancing 

O 'er armies advancing, 

17 



258 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

To conquer the kingdoms of sin. 
Our Lord shall possess them, 
His presence shall bless them, 

His beauty shall enter them in. 

four scholars (in concert). 
The kingdom is coming, etc. 

THIRD SCHOLAR. 

With shouting and singing, 

And jubilant ringing, 
Their arms of rebellion cast down; 

At last every nation 

The Lord of salvation 
Its King and Redeemer shall crown. 

FOUR SCHOLARS (in concert). 

The kingdom is coming, etc. 

AMARANTH. 



I»AHLX V. 

Closing Addresses. 



1. VALEDICTORY ADDRESS. 

Dear Christian Friends. — I have been 
chosen to make the closing address this evening. 
I sincerely trust that our entertainment has been 
one of interest to all. It has been some trouble 
for us to meet from time to time and rehearse our 
parts, yet your earnest attention has more than re- 
paid us for all our work. I believe that our con- 
cert has met with your approbation, and we shall 
redouble our efforts in the future. But this effort 
has not been alone to entertain and please. We 
have a far nobler object. We hope to awaken in 
your minds and hearts a deeper love for the great 
missionary cause. If we have failed to do this, our 
concert has failed. We hope you will carry away 
with you a new zeal for the work that lies next 
to the Savior's heart. He was the first mission- 
ary — a missionary from heaven to this sin stricken 
world — and we know he is well pleased with 
every effort to extend his kingdom. We ought to 
heartily engage in this work from the love we 
bear to our Savior. The only difference between 



260 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

us and the heathen world is this : we have the 
Bible — the revealed will of God — and the Church, 
with its privileges, and they are without these 
things. Take away from us these things and we 
would be just as superstitious and ignorant as they 
are. The object of our concert has been to 
awaken interest in the spread of the Gospel 
throughout the world, so that all people may enjoy 
equal privileges with us. We hope you will en- 
courage us in our efforts, not only by your pres- 
ence and smiles, but show us a hearty good-will 
by giving a liberal collection. A cause like this 
should receive such a spontaneous support from all 
Christians, that the officers of the various Church 
societies need only to tell the people how much 
they want and the amount would be forthcom- 
ing without solicitation. We leave the amount of 
your contribution to your conscience. Let your 
giving be done with a spirit to please our heav- 
enly Father. In behalf of my school-mates I 
thank you for your attendance and attention, and 
now bid you good night. 

w. T. SMITH. 

2. VALEDICTORY. 
Dear Friends. — We have now finished what 
we have to say, and come to thank you for your 
kind attention during the evening. We have not 



CLOSING ADDRESSES. 26 1 

said any thing great, we know, but we have tried 
to say all the good things we could. We are yet 
small, and our powers of mind, as well as of 
body, are feeble. We can not talk as you can ; 
we can not think so fast, or reason so well ; but 
as we grow older we hope to grow in wisdom 
and in strength. This is one of the ways by 
which we gain strength, and the Sunday-school 
instruction is good to make us wise. 

Who knows but some day one of us here may 
go to foreign lands to proclaim the Gospel to those 
who sit in darkness? We may be called to fill 
high places of honor and trust, and it is impor- 
tant that we prepare ourselves now for the sta- 
tions which we soon must fill. 

Life is passing by, and youth will soon be 
gone, or the night of death may overtake us. 
Many little ones, we remember, who once stood 
where we now stand, many faces that beamed 
with love and expectation as they stood before you 
on an occasion like this; but to-night they look on 
us, seeing, but unseen. They have crossed the 
narrow river, have entered the gate into that beau- 
tiful city, and we are left to follow. We would 
not forget that life may close with us as suddenly, 
and we hope to live so that when we come to die 
we may join the blest above. We want your 
prayers for us, that we may be pure and good. 



262 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

3. CLOSING ADDRESS. 

Respected Audience. — You have heard our 
speeches and readings to-night, and now we come 
to the close. As scholars we have had no little 
anxiety about this entertainment. W$ have been 
anxious to do well. You must now decide about 
the merit of our performances. We trust you 
have not expected too much from us. It is not 
the object of our concert to make a dazzling dis- 
play. We come upon this platform as little men 
[or women], to talk with you plainly about the mis- 
sionary cause. It would be out of place to make 
display. This is a very practical subject, and we 
are glad to know that the Church and world are 
beginning to recognize this fact. One hundred 
years ago the work of the conversion of the 
world was considered fanatical and visionary, 
but now there is a universal expectation that 
the religion of our Savior will soon be the faith 
and practice of all lands. And we ought to 
awake to the fact that if we desire to share some 
part in this great work, we must bestir ourselves. 
Our time of opportunity will soon be gone. It 
would be a pity for us to go to heaven and not 
have some part and lot in this matter. I ear- 
nestly entreat these my school-mates to be dili- 
gent in doing good, for every act of kindness, 
prompted by a spirit of love, helps the cause of 



CLOSING ADDRESSES. 263 

Christ; and if I were not so young, and if you 
would not consider it presumption in me, I would 
urge those who have named the name of Christ 
to more faithfulness in this cause. O my dear 
friends, young and old, let us lift up our banner 
to-night, and inscribe upon it, in letters of living 
light, "This whole world for Christ." Take that 
as the motto of your life, and be satisfied with no 
less an expectation. And in one hundred years 
more, or it may be sooner, we may enjoy the 
privilege of shouting, with the angels and all the 
company of heaven, "The kingdoms of this world 
have become the kingdom of our Lord and of his 
Christ." 

W. T. S. 

4. A SHORT SERMON ON MONET. 
Now do n't equip yourself as though about to 
encounter a grizzly bear, or combat an unamiable 
tiger, or prepare to run as from a volcanic erup- 
tion, for I can assure you that not a hair of your 
head shall be touched. I am not going to preach 
a long sermon, like the one you heard when nod- 
ding in doze-land, when the most delightful pas- 
sage was the one leading from the pulpit to the 
door. I shall not talk about Rehoboam, Belshaz- 
zar, or Abimelech ; neither extol the virtue of the 
patriarchs, nor entertain you with the hydrogra- 



264 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

phy of all the seas and lakes of Palestine, but I 
shall briefly discourse to you upon the subject of 
money. 

We have divided our subject into three heads: 

1. Money has a value. This is a fact no sane 
one will attempt to controvert. For it we give 
hours and days of toil; with it do we purchase 
the necessities and comforts of life. Money has 
a value to the wealthy, for it will buy the rich 
viands and fruits, so gratifying to the pampered 
appetite, and fill the princely mansion with rare 
and costly articles. To the poor it also has a 
value, for it gives them the roof that protects them 
from the pitiless storm; it gives them the cheerful 
fire, and the substantial that exhausted nature de- 
mands. As far as tangible objects are concerned 
money has always proved of equivalent value, and 
even friendship and other emotions of the heart 
are bartered for money. 

2. Money is a means of doing good. This fact, 
we feel certain, can be denied by no one who has 
ever tried honestly to benefit his fellow man by a 
proper and judicious use of money. Those, if 
there be such, who profess to disbelieve our state- 
ment, we would advise to try the experiment, and 
if they do not find the truth of what we say, they 
belong to that class of blind people who will not 
see. 



CLOSING ADDESSES. 265 

We now come to the last part of our sermon. 
We want money. It has a value to us; not the 
ignoble one embraced in the gratification of self, 
for ours is a more worthy desire. We want it 
for the love we bear to our race — to help men 
at home and abroad in their struggles against sin. 
We want it to send the Gospel to the perishing 
millions who have never heard of Jesus- — the 
world's redeemer. The money which your gen- 
erosity devotes to a purpose like this, will be pro- 
ductive of much good, and you will be lending 
of your abundance to the Lord. Who of you 
asks better security than this ? I hope we shall 
have a liberal response to this appeal for the most 
worthy of all objects. 

Fruit for Sunday-school Festivals (tnodijied). 



5. IN PERIL. 
Is it not almost incredible that our missionary 
work is in grave peril? Evidences of expanding 
means are on every side. Houses, costly furni- 
ture, elegant equipages, added possessions, en- 
larged appliances for business, and yet the mis- 
sionary cause is in peril ! Is in peril for want of 
means ! Is possibly to be compelled into a retreat 
for simple want of money ! One dollar a mem- 
ber would more than meet existing liabilities, and 



266 MISSIONARY CONCERTS. 

enable the managers to sound the note of advance; 
but for all that the cause is in peril! A small ad" 
vance on the part of each congregation would end 
the peril, and send a thrill of joy through the 
Church at home and abroad; but they are con- 
tracting instead. A few mills on the dollar to 
the gains of our people the present year, and the 
danger is ended. A small shrinkage of the sums 
devoted to adornment and pleasure, and the crisis 
is passed with a shout. An honest giving to God 
of the tenth due him, and a fair share of that 
given our missions, and we shall hear no more of 
retreat, no more of shortening sail, no more of the 
disgraceful talk of calling home our men. 

It is the year of revivals. Thousands have 
honestly professed the gift of perfect love, declar- 
ing that it was preceded by complete consecration 
of soul, body, and substance. God will expect en- 
larged liberality; he will look for augmented gifts; 
he will expect the payment of consecrated sub- 
stance. Oh it can not be, surely it can not be, 
that in such a year of revived Churches, a year 
of sanctifying power, of purifying grace, that amid 
temporal abundance, amid increased wealth and 
redundant stores, the work of Christ among the 
lost, the ignorant, the dying, the work of Christ 
among heathen men and apostate Churches is to 
suffer, is permitted to languish; is left to die! 



CLOSING ADDRESSES. 267 

It is a year of revivals. Converts are gath- 
ered by thousands. If we credit revival notices, 
among them are families of means and position. 
Where are their thank-offerings? 

It is time to take this subject to the closet, 
where shams are out of the question and the soul 
is face to face with God. It is time to look at our 
past offerings when we kneel at the table of our 
dying Lord. It is time to compare our offerings 
with the measure of our ability and with the bl ess- 
sing God hath given us. 

Again, I say, the missionary cause is in grave perils 
and our souls are in deadly peril if we suffer, by fault 
of ours, disaster to come upon it. 

DR. T. M. EDDY. 

6. EXHORTATION TO UNIVERSAL PRAISE. 
To be Spoken in concert by class. 

From all that dwell below the skies, 
Let the Creator's praise arise ; 
Let the Redeemer's name be sung, 
Through every land, by every tongue. 

Eternal are thy mercies, Lord; 

Eternal truth attends thy word; 

Thy praise shall sound from shore to shore, 

Till suns shall rise and set no more. 



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